Fire & Ice 3: Alpha Trouble
by MotoXAngels
Summary: After dealing with the Kanima and Gerard, Derek and Rayne prepare for the Alpha pack's arrival. Combined with the mysterious sacrifices, the town of Beacon Hills is under attack. Can the two Alphas protect their friends and family, and perhaps finally reveal their feelings for one another, or will a mysterious woman steal Derek's heart?
1. Tattoo

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Wolf or anything related to it. I only own my original character Rayne and anything else that seems out of place.**

I want to say a big thank you to **Meggyboo92 **for her amazing final review of Fire & Ice: Double Trouble. You have no idea how much it means to me that you noticed those things. Yes, I love Colton Haynes as well. He is an amazing actor.

So thanks to that wonderful review that made me smile, here is the third installment in the Fire & Ice series.

xoxo Tiearney

* * *

A body is being dragged through an abandoned warehouse, it's the body of a teenage boy. The person dragging them stops, pulling out a set of jumper cables and hooking them to a car battery, they strike them together, the ends sparking. The person opens the boys shirt, open wounds mar his flesh. They press the ends against the boys chest, shocking his body, he lifts into the light, it's Isaac.

He groans in pain as the currents rush through his body, his eyes flashing the Beta yellow. The person above him speaks, "Quiet." It's a woman. A beautiful African American woman. He groans again, clutching his wounds as they sizzle trying to heal themselves.

The woman picks him up, supporting his weight as best she can, as they make their way through the warehouse. "Stay with me. We're almost there."

Isaac reaches up touching the back of his neck, he feels open wounds. "My neck."

"It's from their claws. It's how they share memories."

"But I don't remember anything."

"Also, how they steal them." She helps Isaac onto her motorcycle, placing his hands around her waist. "Listen to me, no matter what happens you hold on, okay? You hold on tight."

Isaac nods, trying his best to stay conscious. The woman starts the bike, the engine rumbling to life, as she pulls on her helmet. She takes off rounding the corner of the warehouse, they're flying down the roads and back alleys. Isaac lifts his head from off her back, he frowns, "I hear someone. Someone's coming."

He looks behind them, through the fog he sees a figure running towards them. The figure catches up, it's a teenage boy, he raises his arm to slash at them, claws extended.

Isaac yells, "Faster!"

The woman twists the throttle further, propelling them faster through the streets. Isaac looks left as the boy runs alongside them again, this time when he slashes, his claws strike the rear tail light. Another strikes the side of the bike.

Isaac looks back, "Two of them."

The woman looks in the mirror, she sees the two figures behind them. They run up again, slashing at the bike, rocking it back and forth, their eyes glowing red. The woman keeps the bike upright, Isaac looks behind him, they're still there. He looks back at where they're going, a horn blares as they skirt in front of a semi, just missing being hit. They turn down a dead end alley way, Isaac sees them heading for the wall, "No!"

The woman skids the bike to a halt, spinning it around to face the opening of the alley. The two werewolves are advancing on them, the woman lifts the visor on her helmet, "Remember what I said before?"

"Hold on?"

"Hold on!" She yells lowering her visor once more, one werewolf comes closer kneeling on the ground. She revs the bike as the other wolf runs towards the first. She takes off, squealing the tires as she barrels towards them, the second wolf uses the first's back to leap into the air. Just as he's about to land on top of them, she turns the bike, the werewolf lands on the ground, his strength putting a hole in the asphalt.

Isaac looks back in front of them in time to scream "Whoa!" The motorcycle crashes through a window, the woman keep sit upright but Isaac starts to faint, his head lolling against her back. "Isaac? Stay with me! Isaac!"

Isaac's leaning cause the motorcycle to crash, sliding on its side across the inside of the warehouse. Isaac's vision is blurry as he looks around from his spot on the floor. The woman is laying by the bike, she takes her helmet off. He turns his head towards the broken window, the two teens step through it, advancing towards Isaac. He can see now that they're identical twins, they take off their jackets leaving them naked from the waist up. They walk side by side till suddenly the one on the right stops, squatting down he places a hand on the ground. The one standing, jams his hand down into the other ones spine, the cracking of bones and meshing of flesh is heard as they merge together. Two have become one, and that one is a giant, and he is pissed off.

It growls as it stalks toward Isaac as he drags himself away from it, he hears the woman yell, "Isaac!" He stops, looking at her, "Get down!"

She pulls out a shotgun, the giant picks up into a run, growling louder. Just as it reaches Isaac, the woman fires the gun, a huge yellow capsule fires out of the barrel. It hits the giant, immediately shocking it, electricity crackles around the giant, a bright blue light almost blinding Isaac. The giant hits the ground splitting back into the twins, the electrocution lasts for a good 30 seconds. The next thing Isaac knows, the twins are gone, vanished. He turns back to stare at the woman who like him is breathing heavily.

"I thought I told you to hold on."

Isaac sighs, flopping onto his back.

* * *

Inside a tattoo shop in town, a tattoo artist holds up a piece of paper. On the paper are two bold black lines, the one on top is twice as thick as the one on bottom.

"Boy, it's a good thing you drew me a picture."

Scott sits in the man's tattoo chair, smiling. Stiles stands in front of him holding a book of tattoo designs. "Hey, Scott, sure you don't something like this?"

On the paper Stiles is holding, is a picture that looks almost like the Kanima. Scott gives him a 'are you kidding me' look, Stiles smiles, "Too soon? Yeah." Stiles flips through the book some more, "I don't know, man, are you sure about this? I mean, these things are pretty permanent, you know?"

"I'm not changing my mind."

"Okay, but why two bands?"

"I just like it."

"But don't you think your first tattoo should have some sort of meaning, you know, or something."

"Getting a tattoo means something."

"I don't think that's—"

"He's right." The artist interrupts. "Tattooing goes back thousands of years. The Tahitian word "Tatua" means "To leave a mark." Like a right of passage."

"Yeah, you see? He gets it." Scott tells Stiles smiling.

"He's covered in tattoos, Scott." He looks to the artist, "Literally."

"Okay, you ready?" The artist asks, tattoo gun in hand. Scott takes a deep breath, nodding. The artist eyes him, "You uh, ain't got any problems with needles, do you?"

Scott shakes his head, "Nope."

The needles buzzes as it breaks Scott's skin, Stiles comes over looking close, "I tend to get a little squeamish though, so…"

Stiles faints as Scott lets out a small groan, "Oh man."

* * *

Afterwards they're sitting in the Jeep, Stiles holding an ice pack to the back of his head. He looks over at Scott, "You okay?"

Scott has his sleeve rolled up looking at the bandage around his arm, "Kinda burns."

"Yes, you just had your skin stabbed about 100,000 times by a needle."

"Yeah, but I don't think it's supposed to feel like this."

Suddenly Scott jolts, groaning in pain, "Oh God. No, it's definitely not supposed to feel like this. Oh, I gotta take this thing off."

Stiles gets squeamish again, "No, no, no ,no, Scott. Oh, Scott, please stop."

Scott removes the bandage, his skin is red and raw, the black tattoo is fading.

"Whoa, whoa." Stiles says eyeing his arm.

It's healing before their eyes, Scott can't believe it, "Oh, no, what? No, no, come on." In a few seconds it's gone, no trace it was ever there. "It healed."

"Ah, thank God. I hated it." Stiles tells him, earning a glare from Scott, to which he replies, "Sorry."

* * *

After everything with the Kanima, Derek finally got a chance to speak to Rayne. It didn't go how he planned.

"When I said we were through Derek, I meant it." Rayne sighed as she walked to the door of his loft, "I'm here for my family and friends, not you."

Derek sighed as the door closed behind her, he heard a chuckling from the stairwell. He growled as Peter descended the staircase, "I told you it wouldn't be easy. You've got a long way to go before that woman is going to trust you."

Derek hated to admit it, but he was right. Rayne may still be around him, but he felt like he was in the presence of the ice queen, with the cold shoulder she was giving him. He knew he had screwed things up royally with her, after saying they would try to be together, then shoving her away. After everything he had did, to her brother, her friends.

But all those things paled in comparison, Rayne could deal with them. What she couldn't deal with, was Derek not trusting her.

When it all came down to it, Derek needed her, he physically hurt when she wasn't around. So he dealt with her wrath, while watching her laugh and speak to everyone who wasn't him.

* * *

Rayne felt her phone buzz, she pulled it out of the back pocket of her jeans. Looking at the screen, her brows furrowed as she answered.

"Hey mom. What's up? Everything okay?"

"_Rayne, it's Isaac. He was just admitted to the hospital. You need to get here fast."_

"I'm on my way, I'm leaving now. Try to keep everyone away from him."

She ended the call, snatching her jacket from the bed. Derek was nowhere in sight and wasn't answering his phone, and right now Rayne didn't have time to waste trying to find him, her only concern was getting to her Beta.

Rayne walked in and noticed she happened to get there the same time her brother did. Together they find their mom, and she walks them through the hospital to find Isaac.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Scott asks them.

"Honestly, I was hoping I didn't have to." Melissa answers.

"What do you mean?"

Rayne takes over, "Everything that you've been doing— the extra reading, the summer school, saving up for the bike, even though it scares mom half to death. Scotty, we just didn't wanna disrupt a good rhythm."

Her mom nods along, agreeing with her, Scott sighs stopping them, "It's not gonna stop. I-I'm gonna be better this year. A better student, a better son, a better brother, a better friend, and a better everything. I promise."

"Okay," mom says smiling. "He's in room 215 if he isn't already in surgery."

"Thank you." The siblings reply in tandem, kissing her cheeks, then hurrying down the hall. They step into the elevator, the doors start to close, until Scott stops them. A man with a cane and dark glasses, obviously blind, steps inside with them.

"Would you hit the button for the second floor please."

"Yeah." Scott says reaching for the panel, only to realize the button is already pushed as that is the floor they need. Scott simply pushes the button again, the man smiles, "Thank you."

Rayne meanwhile can't shake the nagging feeling that she somehow knows this man. The voice, his face, everything is familiar, but when she tries to think, all she gets is darkness.

As the elevator reaches the second floor, Rayne steps out ahead of Scott. The man meanwhile blocks Scott's exit with his walking stick, "You wouldn't mind helping me out for a second, would you?"

"Um-" Scott mutters looking at Rayne who is growing impatient, the man lays his hand on Scott's shoulder not taking no for an answer, "Sure." Scott and Rayne walk increasingly slow, Scott's head rolling down in despair.

Several minutes later, finally free of the man, Scott and Rayne rapidly walk the halls, but they find no sight of Isaac. As they turn a corner, they see a tall man wheeling Isaac, who is unconscious in a wheelchair, into the elevator. The man turns his head, gazing at the siblings over his shoulder, then he turns to face them pressing the button for the doors to close.

Rayne and Scott flick out their claws, their fangs protruding, both growling, ready for a fight. They run, jumping through the closing doors just in time. They land on the floor, the werewolf turning to them, all three are now fully shifted. The siblings stand, face to face with the red eyes of the tall Alpha.

The Alpha grabs the two, slamming them off the walls and the ceiling, glass breaking as they smash into it. The tall Alpha grabs Scott by the throat, lifting him into the air. "Don't you know what you're dealing with?"

Rayne takes her opportunity and digs her claws into his abdomen, he growls, grabbing her wrist in his powerful grip and crushing the bones. Rayne drops to her knees, her claws still embedded in his flesh as he glares down at her, "I'm an Alpha."

The elevator dings and the doors open, the Alpha howls as claws penetrate the flesh of his back. He drops Scott to the floor, releasing Rayne who cradles her wrist. Both siblings stare up at their savior.

"So am I." Derek tells the Alpha before he throws him down the hallway. Derek turns back looking over his shoulder, first at Rayne, then down at Scott, "Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

Scott sighs, closing his eyes and rests his head against the wall.

* * *

Derek picks up Isaac, together with Rayne and Scott, they take him to the Hale house. As they walk in Scott's phone rings, it's Stiles.

"_Hey, we got a serious problem at school. Ms. Blake's class—"_

"Hey, can you tell me about it later?" Scott asks him.

"_Well, no, pretty sure this qualifies for immediate discussion."_

"All right, then meet me at Derek's."

"_Derek's house, what? What the hell are you doing at—"_

"Just meet us here, okay?"

Derek lays Isaac down on a table, Rayne is holding Isaac's hand and running her fingers through his hair. The look on her face is heartbreaking to Derek, her Beta got hurt, is still hurting and was almost taken by Alphas and there was nothing she could do for him.

Derek kneels down on the floor by the table, he's moving things around on the floor, looking for something. Scott comes into the living room and looks around, "You don't still live here, do you?"

"No. The county took it over, but there's something here that I need. It'll help heal a wound from an Alpha."

"Yeah, but it did heal." Scott says walking over to Isaac.

"Not on the inside," Rayne says, Derek can hear the tears in her voice and moves quicker.

Scott watches him pick up what look like flowers from the floor, "Hey, are you gonna tell me who that was back there? That Alpha."

"A rival pack. It's my problem. I know you wanna help, and you did. I owe you one. Now go home. Go back to being a teenager."

Derek stands up, walking over to the table he pulls the flowers off the stems. He looks up at Rayne who mouths, 'Thank you.' He nods with a small smile knowing she's referring to his promise he made to her to keep Scott out of the Alpha pack business.

Scott turns to leave but pauses a moment, grasping his arm through his jacket. "Uh, hey, Derek." The Alpha looks up at him. "If you wanna pay back that favor now… There is something you can do for me."

* * *

After taking care of Isaac, Stiles shows up to tell them about what happened at the school. Scott sits down on a box, Derek sitting in front of him and Rayne kneeling next to Derek. Both Alphas eyes turn red as they look at Scott's arm, seeing the two black bands that healed.

"Yeah, I see it." Derek tells him. "It's two bands, right?" Scott nods as his sister asks him, "What does it mean?"

"I don't know. It's just something I traced with my fingers." He traces two circles on the table in the dust, one bigger around one smaller.

"Why is this so important to you?" Derek asks him.

"Do you know what the word "tattoo" means?" Scott asks looking between Derek and Rayne, they both nod.

"To mark something." Stiles quips, Derek looks at him and shakes his head.

"Well that's in Tahitian, in Samoan, it means "open wound." The three of them turn their attention to Scott, "I knew I wanted to get a tattoo when I turned 18. I always wanted one. Mostly cause Rayne had a few and I loved the way they looked."

Rayne and Scott share a smile, Derek looks at her confused, "A few?"

She shakes her head turning back to her brother, "Go on Scott."

"I just decided to get it now, to make it kind of a reward."

"For what?" Derek asks softly.

"For not calling or texting Allison all summer." Derek nods. "Even when I really wanted to, even when it was so hard not to sometimes. I was trying to give her the space she wants." Scott sighs, "Going four months later, it still hurts. It still feels like a, uh—"

"Like an open wound." Rayne says her eyes locking with her brothers, tears in her eyes as she barely glances at Derek. Scott nods back at her, glad she understands. "Yeah."

Derek nods understanding, he looks to Rayne who stands up and walks behind her brother. Derek picks up a blow torch, "The pain's gonna be worse than anything you've ever felt."

"Ah, that's great." Stiles quips.

"Do it." Scott tells him, before Derek lights the torch, the sound of a burning flame fills the room.

"Oh, wow. That's a— that's a lot for me." Stiles says warily. "So I'm gonna take that as my cue. I'm just gonna wait outside."

"Nope." Derek says placing a hand on Stiles' shoulder stopping him. "You can help hold him down." He shoves Stiles' back over towards Scott.

"Oh, my God." Stiles breath out, the look on his face indicates he's about to puke, so Rayne grabs his arm. "Stiles, outside now." He breaths out a sigh of relief as he shuts the front door behind him.

Rayne steps behind her brother, she hooks her arms around his neck from behind, like she's hugging him. She lays her head on his shoulder as Derek brings the torch closer, she whispers in his ear. "Relax Scott, as much as you can."

As the torch touches his flesh Scott screams, jerking against Rayne who holds him tighter. His eyes glow yellow, his fangs extended, as his screams get louder, the smell of burning flesh fills the air.

* * *

Afterwards, while Scott sleeps having passed out due to the pain, Rayne and Derek talk about what happened at the hospital.

"I felt like I knew him, both of them. But when I think about it, all I get is darkness. It's like my memories disappeared." Rayne sighs slamming her fist into the wall, "Why do I know them?!"

Derek doesn't answer her, he merely watches as her knuckles heal. She crosses her arms over her chest, watching her brother sleep.

"You changed your hair back."

Rayne knew it wasn't a question, "Yeah. I guess I just needed to feel more like me. The me, when we were kids."

Derek nods, it was one of the first things he noticed when he saw her in the hospital. He had always loved her natural hair color. It was a dark brown, like his mom's, but Rayne's had a hint of purple in it when she stood in the sun. "I like it."

Rayne gave him a small smile, which he immediately returned.

Moments later Scott wakes, Derek, Rayne and Stiles watching over him. He looks down at his new tattoo fondly, "It worked."

He kisses his sisters cheek before he and Stiles head to the door, Scott pulling his shirt back on. "Well it looks pretty damn permanent now." Stiles mentions as they leave.

"Yeah. I kind of needed something permanent. With everything that's happened to us—Everything just changes so fast. Everything's so, uh… Ephemeral."

Stiles nods, "Studying for the PSAT's?"

"Yep."

"Nice."

Rayne shakes her head at the boys bantering, as she turns back to Isaac she notices Scott stop, he's looking at the freshly painted red door.

"You painted the door." Scott says, earning Rayne and Derek's attention, his eyes darting between them and the door. "Why'd you paint the door?"

Derek pleads to him, "Go home, Scott."

Scott runs his fingers over the wood, "And why only one side?" Scott flicks out his claws, he runs one down the door taking the paint off.

Derek starts towards him, "Scott!"

Scott grunts as he rips into the door, tearing all the paint off, Derek watches confounded as Scott reveals the black symbol on the door.

"The birds at school— the deer last night— just like the night I got trampled by the deer when I got bit by the Alpha. How many are there?"

Derek sighs, "A pack of 'em." The four all look at one another in turn before Derek speaks, "An Alpha pack."

"All of them?" Stiles questions. "How does that even work?"

"I hear there's some kind of a leader. He's called Deucalion."

Suddenly Rayne grabs her head, visions filling it. Visions of Derek's mother, a blonde man with his eyes missing, the tall werewolf from the hospital, another she-wolf, a wolf pack and a group of hunters including Gerard and Chris. More and more visions, most of which Rayne can't put together. She shakes her head coming back to the conversation, trying to figure all of this out was going to take time.

"We know they have Boyd and Erica. Rayne, Peter, Isaac and I have been looking for them for the last four months."

"Let's say you find them. How do you deal with an Alpha pack?"

"With all the help I can get." Derek admits.

The four gaze at one another before they hear a voice behind them, "Where is she?" Isaac is sitting up, Rayne rushes to his side, he asks her, "Where's the girl?"

Derek looks at the other two then back at Isaac, "What girl?"


	2. Chaos Rising

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Wolf or anything related to it. I only own my original character Rayne and anything else that seems out of place.**

I want to say a big thank you to **PureSourwolfHale **for the wonderful review of Fire & Ice 3: Alpha Trouble. I hope it doesn't break your heart Maddie. I promise you that Jennifer will not have Derek all to herself. I'm so glad you have loved all of my stories. I promise that Derek and Rayne will eventually be together :)

So thanks to that wonderful review that made me smile, here is the next chapter.

xoxo Tiearney

* * *

Inside Derek's loft, Isaac is pacing back and forth in front of the floor to ceiling window looking out over the buildings. "You know I'm starting not to like this idea. It sounds kinda dangerous." He stops for a moment thinking then starts pacing again, "You know what? I definitely don't like this idea, and I definitely don't like him."

Next to Isaac sits a desk, which Derek is sitting at looking through a book. Rayne sits on top of the desk watching her Beta pace, a light smile on her face at his irritation.

"You'll be fine." Derek tells him.

"Does it have to be him?"

"He knows how to do it. We don't. Be more dangerous if we tried doing it ourselves."

"You know Scott doesn't trust him, right?" Isaac asks, stopping and coming over to the desk, placing his arms around Rayne's neck, laying his head on her shoulder. "You know, personally— well, I'd trust Scott."

"Do you trust me?" Derek asks glancing up at the Beta, frowning when he sees him leaning on the female Alpha.

"Yeah." Isaac sighs, "I still don't like him."

"Nobody likes him." Rayne and Derek reply in tandem.

The door to the loft opens, a figure standing in the doorway, the three of them look up.

"Boys." He looks to Rayne, "And lady." Peter struts into the room like he owns it. "F.Y.I., yes, coming back from the dead has left my abilities somewhat impaired, but the hearing still works. So I hope you're comfortable saying whatever it is that you're feeling, straight to my face."

"We don't like you." Derek tells him in a matter-of-fact way, closing his book and tossing it on the table, he stands up, "Now shut up and help us."

"Fair enough." Peter says flicking out his claws.

Isaac sits down in the chair Derek vacated, he now sits on the couch to Isaac's right next to Rayne. Peter takes off his jacket, walking towards Isaac he tells him, "Relax. I'll get more out of you if you're calm."

"How do you know how to do this, again?" Isaac asks Peter warily.

"It's an ancient ritual, used mostly by Alphas, since it's a skill that requires quite a bit of practice." Peter approaches Isaac, his claws next to the Beta's head as he studies the back of Isaac's neck. "One slip, and you could paralyze someone. Or kill them."

"Wait. You— You've had a lot of practice, though, right?" Isaac asks turning to look at Peter behind him.

"Well, I've never paralyzed anyone."

Derek furrows his eyebrows then gives a concerned look to Rayne, Isaac meanwhile is slightly freaking out. "Wait, does that mean that you—"

Isaac doesn't finish as Peter jams his claws into the back of Isaac's neck, the Beta grunts reaching back holding onto Peter's arms. Derek looks concerned, he places a heavy hand on Rayne's leg holding her down as she wants to help her Beta, who is in pain, and she can feel it. Peter's eyes turn the striking Beta blue, as Isaac's memories transfer into Peter's mind. Isaac starts thrashing around, this time it's Derek who stands up ready to help Isaac.

Peter implores them, "Wait, I see them."

Moments later Peter throws himself away from Isaac, holding onto the desk for support. Isaac leans forward in the chair, Rayne kneeling in front of him checking him out.

"What'd you see?" Derek asks Peter.

Peter stands next to the bed, beside the broken brick wall, panting. "Uh, it was confusing. Um, im-images. Vague shapes."

"But you saw something." Derek says knowingly.

"Isaac found them."

"Erica and Boyd?" Rayne asks hope filling her voice.

"I barely saw them, I mean, glimpses."

"But you did see them." Derek states.

"Worse." Peter says clutching his hand.

Rayne knows what Peter saw, Derek speaks it out loud. "Deucalion."

"He was talking to them, something about time running out."

"What does it mean?" Isaac asks fingering the marks on his neck, looking to Derek.

"He's gonna kill them."

"No, no, no, no, no, he didn't say that. He did make them a promise that by the full moon they'd both be dead."

"The next full moon?" Derek questions, urgency in his tone.

"Tomorrow night." Peter says.

* * *

Scott calls his sister saying that the girls needed to speak to her and Derek. Half an hour later they found themselves at the school, staring at Allison and Lydia's wrists looking for a sign.

"I don't see anything." Derek admits.

"Look again." Scott urges him.

"How's a bruise, gonna tell me where Boyd and Erica are?" He says pointedly looking straight at Allison.

"It's the same on both sides. Exactly the same." Scott tells him.

"It's nothing." Derek's gaze never moving from Allison, who matches his stare.

"Pareidolia. Seeing patterns that aren't there." Lydia tells them. "It's a subset of Apophenia."

Derek looks to Scott who sighs, "They're trying to help."

"These two." Derek says his arms still crossed over his chest, then he points to Lydia, "This one, who used me to resurrect my psychotic uncle. Thank you." Lydia nods, smiling, which makes Rayne crack a smile. Then he points to Allison, "And this one, who shot about 30 arrows into me and my pack."

"Okay, all right, now, come on." Stiles says trying to diffuse the situation. "No one died. All right. Look, there may have been a little maiming, okay, a little mangling, but no death. That's what I call an important distinction."

Derek glares over at Stiles, when Allison speaks, "My mother died."

Derek's gaze moves back to her, "Your family's little honor code killed your mother. Not me."

"A girl's here looking for Scott. I'm here to help him, not you."

"You wanna help?" Derek leans down to Allison, "Find something real."

Derek and Rayne for the door, Scott following them. "Derek… give her a chance. Okay, they're on our side now."

"Well then maybe you should tell her what her mother was actually trying to do that night." Derek says before he and Rayne leave.

* * *

Later that day the two Alphas find themselves at the Vets office with Scott, Stiles and Isaac. Dr. Deaton brought in a metal trough filled with water. Scott, Stiles and Derek are emptying bags of ice into the trough. Isaac stands in the doorway with Rayne and Deaton.

"Obviously, it's not going to be particularly… comfortable. But if we can slow your heart rate down enough, you'll slip into a trance-like state."

"Like being hypnotized." Isaac says walking into the room.

"Exactly."

Rayne places her hand on Isaac's arm, he looks down at her 5'4" frame, "Isaac. You don't have to do this."

"I know. But I want to help Boyd and Erica."

Rayne nods, "Okay."

"You'll be half transformed. It'll let us access your subconscious mind." Deaton tells him.

Isaac kneels down next to the tub, Scott looks over at the doc, "How slow does his heart rate need to be?"

"Very slow."

"Okay, well, how slow is very slow?" Derek asks concerned.

"Nearly dead." Deaton says casually, as Scott, Derek and Rayne all stare at him like he's nuts.

Isaac touches the water with his fingertips, hissing and recoiling quickly at the cold. "It's safe, though, right?"

He looks up at Deaton, who smiles, "Do you want me to answer honestly?"

"No, no. Not really." Isaac sighs.

The sound of a rubber glove snapping gets everyone's attention, they turn to look at Stiles who has an arm length rubber glove on, up to his elbow. He sees them all staring, "What?"

Derek raises his eyebrows at the kid, Stiles sighs taking the glove off his arm. Isaac stands up exhaling a deep breath, Derek sees the worry on Rayne's face. "Look, if it feels too risky. You don't have to do this."

Isaac nods taking off his shirt, exhaling another deep breath he steps into the tub. He gasps as he sits down, breathing heavily. Scott and Derek places their hands on his shoulders, pushing him underwater.

Seconds later Isaac bursts up from underwater, his yellow eyes glowing, fangs extended and loud roar leaving his mouth.

"Get him back under." Deaton orders. Isaac struggles against them, pushing himself back up. "Hold him." Deaton orders.

"We're trying!" Derek yells struggling to hold the Beta.

Rayne watches her Beta struggle, finally she sighs heavily, pulling off her black boots and her long sleeve black shirt. She shoves Stiles out of the way and climbs into the tub, kneeling down she presses her body down on Isaac. Placing her hands on his chest, she calmly calls to him. "Isaac. Relax." The Beta doesn't respond, so she adds more force using her Alpha tone, "Isaac!" The tone of her voice causes him to pause a moment. "Good. Now listen to my voice. Calm down. Focus on my heartbeat Isaac. Focus."

It works as the Beta hears his Alphas voice and stops struggling, sinking into the water, letting Scott and Derek push him back under. Seconds later Isaac stills, Scott and Derek remove their hands and he floats to the surface taking a deep breath, his eyes closed.

"Good Rayne. Stay there."

Rayne sighs, she'd only been in the water for a minute and already she was freezing. Her lips were shaking, as was her body and she could feel herself weakening.

Deaton leans down to the tub, "Now, remember, only I talk to him. Too many voices will confuse him and draw him out."

Scott and Derek stand back letting Rayne handle the Beta on her own. After assuring that everyone is quiet, Deaton leans down to the tank again. "Isaac? Can you hear me?"

"Yes. I can hear you."

"This is Dr. Deaton. I'd like to ask you a few questions. Is that all right?"

"Yes."

"I want to ask you about the night you found Erica and Boyd." Thunder rumbles outside the window. "I want you to remember it for me in as vivid detail as possible. Like your actually there again."

"I-I don't wanna do that. I don't— I don't wanna do that. I don't wanna do that." He starts thrashing around in the water, Rayne struggles to hold him down, pressing her body into his.

"Isaac, it's all right. Just relax. They're just memories." Deaton tells him, the lights flickering. "You can't be hurt by memories."

"I don't wanna do that."

"It's all right."

"I don't wanna do that."

"Just relax. Relax." He calms down, "Good. Now let's go back to that night. To the place you found Erica and Boyd. Can you tell me what you see? Is there some kind of building? A house?"

"It's not— It's not a house. It's stone. I think marble." He stutters, his lips chattering.

"That's perfect." Deaton tells him. "Can you give me any other descriptors?"

"It's dusty, it's empty."

"Like an abandoned building?"

The thunder rumbles, the lights flashing as the electricity crackles.

"Isaac?" Deaton calls to him.

"Someone's here." Isaac reaches up and grabs Rayne's arm, gripping it tightly. "Someone's here."

"Isaac, relax."

"No, no, no, they see me, they see me!"

Isaac screams splashing around, his fingers are digging into Rayne's arms.

"Just memories. You won't be hurt by your memories. Just relax. Relax. Good. Now tell us what you see. Tell us everything."

Isaac's eyes open, "I hear him. He's talking about the full moon, about being out of control when the moon rises."

"Is he talking to Erica?"

"I think so, I can't— I can't see her— I ca— I can't see either of them."

"Can you hear anything else?"

"Their worried. They're worried what they'll do during the moon. They're… worried that they're gonna hurt each other."

The thunder rumbles again, Derek sighs, "If they're locked in together on the full moon, they're gonna tear each other apart."

"Isaac, we need to find them right now. Can you see them?"

"No."

"Do you know what kind of room it is? Is there any kind of a marker? A number on a door? A sign?"

Isaac gasps jolting up in the water, Rayne keeps her hands on his chest, his eyes aren't focused on her, it's as if he's looking straight through her.

He whispers, "They're here." The lights flicker, "They're here. They're here."

"It's all right," Deaton tells him.

"No."

"Just tell us-"

"No. They see me. They found me. They're here!"

"This isn't working. Isaac, where are you?" Derek urges.

"Derek, stop!" Rayne warns.

"I can't see them, it's too dark! I can't see!"

"You're gonna confuse him." Deaton warns to Derek, who ignores him, "Isaac, where are you?"

Isaac is struggling and fighting against Rayne, who is trying to keep him calm and shut Derek up.

Deaton whispers loudly, "His heart rate— he could go into shock!"

"Derek, let him go!" Scott growls.

"Isaac! Where are you? What did you see?" Derek yells this time.

"It's a vault! It's a bank vault!" Isaac sits up, fully awake, clutching Rayne's wrists. "I saw it! I saw the name."

Derek picks Rayne up bridal style, Stiles gives him a towel to wrap her in. Scott helps Isaac out of the tub, Deaton wrapping a towel around him.

"It's, uh… B-Beacon Hills First National Bank. It's, um— it's abandoned bank, and they're keeping them locked inside, inside the vault." Isaac looks around, noticing everyone is looking around uneasy. "What?"

"You don't remember what you said right before you came out of it, do you?' Stiles asks him.

"No." Isaac says, shaking his head.

Stiles sighs, "You said that when they captured you they dragged you to a room and that there was a body in it."

"What body?" Isaac asks looking to Deaton and back to Stiles.

"Erica. You said it was Erica."

Derek walked back into the exam room after checking on Isaac. Rayne was still sitting on the table he had set her on, she was shivering head to toe and her lips were a sickening shade of blue.

"Are you okay?" He asked standing in front of her.

She shook her head, not meeting his eyes. He noticed why when he felt the tear hit his arm that was resting in her lap. He lifted her head seeing her blue eyes rimmed with tears.

"It-it can't be her, Derek. Please tell me it isn't Erica."

Derek places his hands on her face, tilting her head so her eyes lock on his. "It's not her. She's alive, we're gonna find them and get them back."

Rayne nodded as the other four walked into the room, Derek began pacing back and forth in front of her.

"She's not dead."

"Derek, he said, "There's a dead body, it's Erica." Doesn't exactly leave us much room for interpretation." Stiles explains.

"Then who was in the vault with Boyd?" Derek asks.

Stiles sighs, "Someone else obviously."

"And maybe it was the girl on the motorcycle." Scott says looking to Isaac. "Okay, the one who saved you?"

Isaac shakes his head, "No, she wasn't like us, and whoever was in the vault with Boyd was."

"What if that's like how Erica died, they pit them against each other during the full moons and see which one survives." Stiles wonders looking cautiously at Derek. "It's like werewolf thunder dome."

"Then we get them out tonight." Derek says and Rayne nods agreeing.

"Be smart about this Derek." Deaton warns him. "You can't just go storming in."

"If Isaac got in, then so can we."

"But he didn't get through a vault door, did he?"

"We need a plan." Scott tells them chiming in.

"How are we gonna come up with a plan to break into a bank vault in less than 24 hours?" Derek says giving him a 'okay, smartass' look.

"Uh, I think somebody already did." Stiles says reading from his phone. "Beacon Hills First National closes its doors three months after vault robbery. Doesn't say here how it was robbed, but it probably won't take long to find out."

"How long?"

"It's the internet, Derek." Stiles says laughing, "Okay, minutes."

* * *

Minutes…

Which to Stiles and Scott meant ten hours later.

* * *

Everyone met up at Derek's loft at 5 that night to go over what plan they didn't have at the moment. Stiles lays out a schematic of the bank on the desk, he standing in between Derek and Scott, Rayne across the desk in front of him and Peter to her right sitting on the bottom of the stairs.

"Okay, you see this? This is how they got in. It's a rooftop air conditioning vent. Leads down inside into the wall of the vault, which is here. Okay? One of the robbers was lowered into this shaft. Now, that space is so small, it took him about 12 hours to drill into that wall, which is stone, by the way. Then throughout the rest of the night, they siphoned the cash up tot eh guys back on the roof through that one little shaft in the wall. Boom."

"Can we fit in there?" Scott asks.

Stiles sighs, "Yes, we can but, very, very barely. And they also patched the wall, obviously, so we're gonna need a drill of some kind. I'm thinking maybe a diamond bit—"

"Look, forget the drill." Derek tells him.

"Sorry?" Stiles asks.

"If I go in first, how much space do I have?"

Stiles looks at Scott with raised eyebrows, "What do you— what do you think you're gonna do Derek? You gonna punch through the wall?"

Derek stands up, crossing his arms over his chest, smirking at Stiles. "Yes, Stiles, I'm gonna punch through the wall."

"Okay, okay, big guy. Let's see it. Let's see that fist. Big, old fist. Make it, come on. Get it out there." Derek holds up his right fist, looking at Rayne with an annoyed look, she simply smiles back at him. Peter is smirking and rolling his eyes. "Don't be scared. Big, bad wolf. Yeah, look at that." Stiles grabs his wrist, holding his hand three inches in front of Derek's fist. "Okay, see this? That's maybe 3 inches of room to gather enough force to punch through solid co—"

Derek punches Stiles hand, the boy crying out in pain, the sound made Rayne think he had broken the boys hand. Stiles walk away clutching his hand, "Ah. Ow. He could do it."

Rayne and Peter are laughing by now, Derek looks to them, "I'll get through the wall. Who's following me down?"

"I am." Rayne says quickly.

"Don't look at me." Peter tells him as Derek looks to him. "I'm not up to fighting speed yet, and honestly, with Isaac out of commission, you're not looking at very good odds for yourself."

"So I'm supposed to just let them die?" Derek asks him.

"One of them is already dead." Peter says callously.

"We don't know that." Derek says, stressing each word.

"Do I have to remind you what we're up against here? A pack of Alphas. All of them killers. And if that's not enough to scare your testicles back into your stomach, try to remember that two of them combine bodies to form one giant Alpha. I'm sure Erica and Boyd were sweet kids. They're gonna be missed."

"Could someone kill him again, please?" Stiles asks.

His objection is outdone by Rayne who turns to Peter, "They will be missed. However you won't. So if you're enjoying your second chance at life, I suggest you shut up, or this time, I'll be the one ripping out your throat. And I'll make damn sure, you won't come back."

Peter glares at her, "Derek, seriously? Not worth the risk."

"What about you?" Derek says looking to Scott.

Stiles answers, "Yeah, if you want me to come…"

"Not you." Derek says sighing.

"Got it." Stiles says motioning to Scott.

"I don't know about Erica." Scott says looking up at Derek. "But if Boyd's still alive, we have to do something." Scott looks over at Peter, "We have to try."

"But?" Derek says noticing Scott's far off look.

"Who's the other girl?" Scott looks at Derek. "The one locked in there with Boyd?"

* * *

Derek, Rayne and Scott take off to the bank.

Meanwhile back at the loft Stiles is staring out the window at the full moon, biting his nails while Peter is reclining back on the couch, his feet on the table, eyes closed.

"I can't take waiting around like this, you know? It's nerve-racking. My nerves are racked. They're severely racked. Racked." Stiles says turning around.

"I could beat you unconscious and wake you when it's over."

"You think Erica's really dead?"

"You think I really care?" Peter retorts.

"I just— I don't understand the bank, though, okay? Wha— like, why wouldn't they chain them up in some underground lair or something? They're an Alpha pack, right? So, shouldn't they have a lair?"

"They're werewolves, not Bond villains."

"Wait a sec. Wait a sec. Maybe they're living there. You know?" Stiles walks over to the broken wall by Derek's bed looking at it. "Like, maybe the bank vault reminds them of their little wolf dens?"

"Wolf dens." Peter whispers like he's speaking to himself.

Stiles turns around, "Yeah, wolf dens. Where do you live?"

"In an underground network of caves hidden deep in the woods."

"Whoa, really?"

"No, you idiot. I have an apartment downtown."

"Okay, fine, but still, that just proves there is something up with the bank. And why wait around for the full moon, huh? Why not just kill them whenever they want to?"

"Maybe they think it's poetic."

"They've already had three full moons to be poetic."

"And here you've only had one full hour to be so annoying…" Peter stops, he lifts his head up, a thoughtful look on his face.

Stiles motions to him, "No, go ahead, finish what you were saying. I'm an— I'm annoying. What were you gonna say there?"

Peter sits up, "What are the walls made of?" He stands walking towards the desk.

"What? Uh…" Stiles looks around at Derek's place. "I don't know, like, wood and brick or—"

"No, the vault, the vault, the walls, what are they made out of?" Peter looks down at the schematics Stiles brought over. "Where would it say that?" He flips through the pages, "Doesn't say anything. Where— where would it say the— the materials, the type of stone?"

"Oh— oh, hang on." Stiles grabs some papers off the left side of the desk. "Yeah, here, hang on." He pulls out a huge stack of papers from his bag hanging them to Peter. "Here. It's gotta be in there."

* * *

At the bank, Derek, Rayne and Scott stand outside of the building, scoping out the area.

"What?" Derek asks looking to Scott.

"There's just something I can't get out of my head."

"The moon's rising, Scott." Rayne tells him.

"Risk and reward."

This gets Rayne's attention, she starts thinking about all the details while the two guys talk.

"Which means what?" Derek says.

"We're not measuring the risk with enough information. We don't know enough."

"We know times running out."

"Yeah, but think about it. They put the triskele on your door four months ago. What have they been doing all this time? Why wait until now?"

"We don't have the time to figure out every little detail."

"Okay, but what if this detail, the reason why they waited— what if it's the most important one?"

"Then we do nothing, and Boyd and Erica are dead. I know what I'm risking. My life for theirs." Derek runs up to the building, jumping up to the gated window and over to the fire escape, pulling himself up. Rayne doesn't hesitate to quickly follow him up, she looks back down to her brother from the ladder, "I won't blame you if you don't follow us."

* * *

Back at the loft Peter and Stiles are still flipping through the papers looking for the information they need. Stiles points to a page, "There that's it."

"Hecatolite." Peter reads.

"Is that awful. That sounds awful."

"Get 'em on the phone. Call them. Now!"

"Okay, why?"

"Cause Boyd and that girl aren't gonna kill each other. They're gonna kill Rayne, Derek and Scott."

* * *

Inside the vent shaft, Derek shatters the wall in four punches, tumbling out onto the floor. Rayne and Scott enter after him, they move slowly surveying the room. Derek spots a figure in front of them, "Boyd?"

A low growl is his response, Derek stands up, "Boyd?"

The Beta continues advancing, growling, his yellow eyes gleaming in the darkness, his claws extended.

The Alpha holds up his hand, "It's me. It's Derek."

Scott's phone rings, "Stiles, now is not the best time."

"_Scott! Scott! No, listen to me, okay? Look, you gotta get out of there. Look, the walls of the vault are made with a mineral called Hecatolite, it scatters the moonlight."_

"What does that mean?"

"We're here to get you out. Okay?" Derek says still trying to calm Boyd.

"_Look, it keeps the moonlight out, okay? They haven't felt the full moon in months."_

Peter takes over, _"Think of it like the gladiators in the Roman Coliseum, they used to starve the lions for three days, making them more vicious, more out of control. Deucalion has kept them from shifting for three full moons, diminishing their tolerance to it."_

"_Scott, they're gonna be stronger—"_ Stiles says hurriedly.

Peter interrupts, _"More savage, more bloodthirsty. Scott, they're the lions, they're the starving lions, and you, Rayne and Derek just stepped into the Coliseum."_

"Derek, we got a problem, a really big problem." Scott says, worry in his voice.

Another growl is heard from behind Boyd, a small girl a few inches shorter than Rayne. Recognition flashes across Rayne and Derek's faces as she steps into the light. Rayne is speechless, Derek seems to be as well for a moment before he utters, "Cora?"

"Who?" Scott says lowering the phone.

"Cora?" Derek's voice cracks as he looks to the girl.

"Derek." The girl says, her voice sounding forced, "Get out."

"Cora, it's Rayne. Do you remember me?"

"Rayne." The girl nods, "Get out now!"

"_Scott? Hey Scott!"_ Stiles voice echoes through the phone.

Rayne notices Scott looking around the room, she follows his line of sight, her eyes fall on the dark line surrounding the room. Suddenly the vault door opens, the light from outside is bright to their eyes. In the doorway stands Ms. Morrell, the guidance counselor from the high school. She bends down letting a powder fall from her hand, Rayne realizes it's mountain ash, she's sealing them inside the vault.

"No! No wait!" Scott yells watching the barrier become complete, effectively trapping them in with the two rabid wolves.

"_Scott! Scott are you hearing this? Scott!" _Stiles yells but the phone goes dead, he and Peter exchange worried looks.

Inside the vault, chaos has erupted as Boyd and the girl have charged, attacking the trio. Derek grabs Boyd tossing him away from Scott, only to be charged by the girl. She slashes repeatedly at Derek, before Rayne grabs her by the jacket, tossing her into a column. She and the two guys back up against the wall behind them.

"You know her?" Scott says looking to Derek and his sister.

"She's my sister, my younger sister."

"What the hell is she doing here?" Scott asks him.

"Like I have a clue. I thought she was dead!"

Rayne sees Allison come into the open vault door, she yells to them, "Look out!"

Cora and Boyd attack, Boyd slamming Scott into the wall several times, then slashing Rayne across the torso and throwing her over by the door where Allison stands.

Derek is trying not to hurt Cora but she is relentless, finally he grabs her right arm, cracking the bones of her forearm. Boyd digs his claws into Scott's stomach, the smaller Beta coughing up blood as Boyd lifts him up the wall. Rayne cries out, trying to crawl to her brother, the gashes in her stomach are very deep and are not healing fast enough.

Derek is fighting with Cora, he holds her wrists as she tries to attack him. He looks over as Allison bends down to the barrier, he yells to her, "No! Don't break the seal!"

She stops, looking up at Scott, blood running down his mouth and shirt, she makes her decision. "Boyd!" The Beta looks to her as she breaks the seal, he drops Scott. Cora breaks away from Derek, and they both run out of the vault.

Derek runs over grabbing Allison by the arms, Scott struggles to the door, Rayne behind him.

"Don't touch her!" Scott rasps out.

"What were you thinking?"

"That I had to do something!" Allison says back in Derek's face.

"She saved our lives." Scott reminds him.

"Yeah, and what do you think they're gonna do out there?" Derek tells him.

"Do you have any idea what we just set free?" Rayne gasps out clutching her stomach.

"You want to blame me?!" Allison yells looking at Rayne, then to Derek. "Well, I am not the one turning teenagers into killers."

"No. No, that's just the rest of your family."

"I've made mistakes. Gerard is not my fault."

Rayne looks pointedly at Scott, who lowers his head, as he hears Derek ask her, "And what about your mother?"

"What do you mean?"

Derek looks over to his right, "Tell her, Scott."

Allison looks to her ex-boyfriend, "What does he mean, Scott?"

Scott doesn't say anything. "Tell her Scott." Rayne sighs growling at her brother, "Or I will."

Allison stares at Scott, "What does he mean?"


	3. Fireflies

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Wolf or anything related to it. I only own my original character Rayne and anything else that seems out of place.**

I want to say a big thank you to **Meggyboo92 **for the wonderful review of **Chaos Rising**. Yes this chapter will be a little painful, but I promise it won't be too bad.

So thanks to that wonderful review that made me smile, here is the next chapter.

xoxo Tiearney

* * *

Derek, Rayne, Scott and Isaac set out into the woods chasing after Boyd and Cora. The four split up, the McCall siblings pairing off together. As they're running further into the woods, Rayne stops, tilting her head, Scott stops looking over at her.

"Do you hear something?"

"This way, quick!" Rayne yells taking off to the right loping quickly through the woods, Scott on her heels. They come upon a clearing in time to see Boyd rip a shed from the ground and toss it away, 2 small children are huddled on the ground.

Suddenly fireflies from a jar at Boyd's feet escape, they begin flying around his face, he snarls, swiping his claws at the offending insects. As the last one flies away Boyd looks down— the children are missing. He looks around him, finding nothing, the children are nowhere to be seen, he growls loudly looking up at full moon.

* * *

"_You lost them?"_

Derek's voice floats through Scott's phone, Rayne can hear the irritation in his voice.

"Yeah, we kind of had to."

Derek rolls his eyes, _"Wasn't exactly the plan."_

"I know, which is why I think that we should stick together. Trust me, he's too strong, too fast, and way too angry for one person to handle. We've got to do this together."

"_Look, I'm at the trails by the entrance to the preserve. Can you meet me here?"_

"Yeah. Just got to drop something off first." Scott hangs up the phone as both he and Rayne look down at the little girl and boy who are attached to their sides.

* * *

The siblings meet up with Derek after dropping the children off. The three wolves run quickly through the woods, so fast that they look like blurs, if they weren't wolves they would miss half the things they passed by. They come to a thick tree that runs the length of the path, Derek jumps up onto a branch and off, he stops as he lands on the ground. The siblings jump through a high break in the branches, they front flip off, somersaulting as they hit the ground, they pause in a crouch as they look to Derek, staring down at a shoe print in the mud.

"Is it them?" Scott asks.

"We're not the only ones that decided to stick together."

Rayne sighs, "Is that gonna make it easier or harder to catch them?"

"I don't know." Derek answers honestly, glancing around.

"Derek…" Rayne bites her lip, something that momentarily distracts Derek from what she's saying. "We saw Boyd try to rip two little kids apart."

Scott takes over, "Are they gonna do that to everyone they find?"

Derek sighs, pursing his lips, "Everyone and anyone." Derek walks past them, they look at each other before they follow behind him.

Rayne notices her brother is distracted, she knows he's still thinking about what happened earlier with Allison in the bank.

* * *

"_She tried to kill you. Why didn't you tell me?"_

"_I'll tell you everything, okay. I'll tell you a-anything that you want to know, but right now—"_

"_Just tell me why."_

"_I-I couldn't. Allison, I couldn't let that be the last memory that you had of her."_

_Derek walks up to them, Erica's body in his arms. The look on his face is pure pain, if he wasn't so strong, he very well might have cried. Rayne, however took care of the tears as she stood beside Derek, holding a charm bracelet in her hands._

* * *

Rayne glances down at the bracelet encircling her right wrist, she fingers the wolf charm in the center.

"You gonna tell me about that?"

Rayne startles slightly, she didn't realize Derek had circled back and was next to her. She sighs taking off the bracelet and handing it to him.

"It was her birthday present. I gave it to her the day she and Boyd left." Rayne chokes out, her voice tight as she wipes furiously at the tears falling down her cheeks.

Derek takes in the thick silver chain and the 7 charms, each holding a special meaning. A black wolf, a full blue moon, a red heart, a silver anchor, a leopard print high heel, a flat silver circle with the letters E & R engraved on it and Derek's triskele in silver.

Derek smiles as he takes Rayne's wrist and fastens the chain around it, he holds her hand as he looks into her eyes, "Erica loved you Rayne, and she knew you loved her."

Rayne nods giving a grim smile as she pulls her hand from Derek and walks after her brother. Derek sighs, getting her back was going to be harder than he originally thought, but he wasn't going to give up. He needed her.

* * *

Isaac meanwhile has found Cora, she's stalking a young woman when he jumps down out of a tree landing on the ground in a crouch. He looks up, smirking. He charges Cora, she rears back to hit him, but Isaac is quicker, knocking the Beta to the ground with a right hand. She looks up at him, growling. She stands up, grabbing him by the front of his jacket and throwing him up in the air. Isaac's back smashes into a tree branch and then he slams to the ground. Isaac looks up at her as she roars loudly.

From over his head, Scott jumps kicking Cora in the chest, sending her to the ground. Scott lands on his back, pushing with his hands by his head, Scott flips himself back to his feet. Scott and Isaac stand side by side, Cora snarling loudly. From her left comes more snarls, she turns to find Derek and Rayne, fangs bared. Cora roars, the two Alphas elicit roars of their own in return. Cora backs down, taking off through the woods, the Alphas and Isaac following.

Scott pauses looking towards the girl that has witnessed all of this, he steps towards her, she shrinks back. Scott holds up his hands to show her he won't hurt her, "Are you okay?"

"What?" She stutters.

"Are you all right?" She nods. "You need to get out of here, okay? Get out of the woods. Get out of here as fast as you can." Scott nods to her before he takes off after the others.

* * *

Scott gets a phone call from Stiles, he's with Lydia, who called him after she found a body at the pool.

"Are you sure?" Scott asks.

"_Yep. Throat ripped out, blood everywhere. It's like the frickin' Shining over here. If two little twin girls come out of the woods, start asking me to play with them forever and ever, I'm not gonna be surprised."_

"Can you get a little closer to make sure it was them?"

"_Make sure it was them? Scott, who else is going around ripping throats out?"_

"Please just do it."

"This doesn't make any sense." Derek says catching Isaac and Rayne's attention. "The public pool is all the way on the other side of the woods. We haven't tracked them anywhere near there."

"Derek, they killed someone." Scott reminds him.

"How are they moving so fast?" Derek wonders, Isaac and Rayne stand by silently.

"Derek." Scott says.

"They can't be that fast on foot."

"They killed someone." Scott says slowly. "Some totally innocent kid is dead… And it's our fault."

"It's my fault."

"We need help."

"We have Isaac now."

"I mean real help." The two guys look at Scott, Rayne already knows what her brother is thinking. "They're too fast for us, all of us. They're too strong, too rabid."

Derek shakes his head, "We'll catch 'em."

"What happens if we do?" Isaac asks looking to the Alphas, "We just gonna hold them down until the sun comes up?"

Derek's face falls as he thinks, "Maybe it would be easier just to kill 'em."

"Killing them isn't the right thing to do," Rayne tells them.

"What if it's the only thing to do?" Her Beta asks, looking to her. "If we can't even catch them, then what else do we do?"

"Find someone who knows what they're doing." Scott says.

Derek gets a concerned look, he already has an idea of who Scott is speaking of. "Who?"

Rayne eyes her brother, she knows exactly who he means, they both smirk as she looks to the Alpha, "Someone who knows how to hunt werewolves."

* * *

In town outside of the grocery store, Chris Argent is trying to balance two bags of groceries while fighting to retrieve his keys from his jacket pocket. Just as he grabs them, one of the bags drops to the ground.

He sighs heavily, "It has to be the one with the eggs."

He opens the back hatch and places the bag in his arms inside, then retrieves the other from the ground placing it inside as well. Just as he shuts the hatch, he draws his gun turning around. He sighs as he finds Scott and Rayne standing behind him.

"Uh, hi." Scott stutters out.

"Hello Chris." Rayne says giving him a small smile.

* * *

To their left inside of his SUV Derek sits in the drivers seat, Isaac in the passengers seat. Derek's inner wolf growls as he sees Rayne smile at Argent.

"Do you think this is gonna work?" Isaac asks his Alpha.

"Nope." Derek says sharply.

"Me neither."

After a long pregnant pause, "So your, uh… your sister…"

Derek's head slowly pans to the right, the look on his face is telling Isaac, 'I will kill you'.

"Sorry, yeah, it's—" Isaac clears his throat, "It's bad timing, I'm sorry."

Derek focuses back out the windshield, until, "I'll ask later. It's fine." Again he turns to Isaac, his eyes wide, his eyebrows practically in his hairline. The Beta stutters, "Or never. Yeah, yeah, I'm good with never." Derek nods as he watches Isaac shrink into his seat.

* * *

Back outside, "First of all, why would I care about anyone related to Derek? And second, I don't know this kid Boyd. I don't even know his last name."

"Boyd is his last name."

"What's his first name?"

"Vernon."

"Eh." Chris says closing his eyes momentarily.

"And just curious, is there a reason the gun is still pointed at me?" Scott asks.

Chris looks away thinking, "Well there's still some part of me that wants to shoot you."

"I get that."

Chris sighs, finally he puts the gun away, stepping towards the siblings. "Scott, I watched my father brainwash my daughter… almost turn her into a killer. That world— your world decimated mine. My wife, sister, father, my entire family. Why would I ever step foot in it again?"

"Because people are going to die. And because you know how to catch Boyd and Cora without killing them."

"Chris." The hunter locks eyes with the female Alpha, "Please. We need your help."

"I'm sorry Rayne. I cant help you." Chris turns walking to the drivers side of his car.

Scott follows him, "Um… Do you think you could do me, like, one little, tiny favor?"

Chris knits his eyebrows together, then motions to the car, which Rayne and Scott get into. They pull out, Derek following them. Chris drives them to the public pool, supposedly taking the two to their car.

"Left or straight?"

"Left. Sorry. It's right around the corner. In that parking lot there. Yeah, just a little further up. Right here."

In front of them red and blue lights flash from police cars, Chris looks out his window seeing a body on a gurney outside of an ambulance. Chris stares at the parents standing beside the gurney, as he shifts the car into park. Scott and Rayne watch him carefully as he takes everything in.

"Thanks again for the ride." Scott reaches for the door, when Chris grabs his shoulder.

"They did this? Boyd and, uh…"

"Cora." Rayne tells him.

"Where's the last place you saw them?"

* * *

Back in the woods Chris drops a large black duffle bag on the ground, looking at the four wolves in front of him. "You're tracking them by print?"

"Trying to." Scott says.

"Well, then, you've been wasting your time. There's only one creature on Earth that can visually track footprints, and that's man. And if you're not trained like me, you have no idea that this print is Boyd's and these—"

"Are Cora's." Isaac says smugly.

"Nope." Chris says.

"They're yours." Rayne tells her Beta, surprising Chris.

"How did you know?"

Rayne smirks, "Anything a hunter can do, so can I. Guns, bows, tracking, everything." She sees his skeptical look, "I believe Gerard said it best... know thy enemy."

Chris nods seemingly impressed as he looks back to Isaac, "You trampled Cora's as soon as you walked over here. Listen, I know the four of you are focusing half your energy on resisting your own urges under the full moon, but that puts you at a severe disadvantage to Boyd and Cora, who have fully given in. They put the pedal to the floor. Where you four are barely hitting the speed limit."

"So what do we do?" Derek asks, annoyed.

"Focus on your sense of smell. Actual wolves are known to track their prey by up to a hundred miles a day by scent. A trained hunter can use scent to track them."

**On the other side of the forest, Allison uses her knife to draw a few drops of blood from her wrist and let them drop to the ground. Somewhere in the vast forest, Boyd picks up her scent.**

"If the wind is with them, wolves can track a scent by a distance of two miles, we means we can draw them to us… or into a trap."

While Allison is busy setting up traps of her own, Chris tosses a black net to Scott, "Full moon does give us one advantage. They'll have a higher heat signature, which makes them easier to spot with infrared."

Chris picks up four headsets, in turn tossing them to the wolves. Derek and Rayne toss them back, the male Alpha reminding him, "Thanks. We've got our own." They both flash their red eyes, to reiterate their point.

"Just remember, we're not hunting wild animals. Underneath those impulses are two intelligent human begins. Don't think they can't rely on that human side. It's suppressed, but it's there, reminding them how to mask their scent, how to cover their tracks, how to survive."

The five of them step up to the cliff overlooking Beacon Hills, Chris asks Derek, "When's the last time you saw your sister?"

"Nine years. I thought she died in the fire."

"Do you feel like you have a lock on her scent?"

Derek shakes his head, Chris turns to Scott. "Scott, how confident are you in your skills?"

"Honestly, most of the time, I'm trying not to think about all the things I can smell."

Chris sighs, "All right. The problem is when they breach the woods and hit the residential area. Once they're past the high school, they're right in the middle of Beacon Hills."

"They're not gonna kill everything they see, are they?" Isaac questions.

"No. But there is an important difference to recognize. Wolves hunt for food. At a certain point, they get full. Boyd and Cora are hunting for the pleasure of the kill, for some primal apex predatory satisfaction that comes from the ripping of warm bodies to bloody shreds. And who knows when that need gets satiated?"

"We can't kill them." Scott tells him.

"What if we can't catch 'em?" Derek says.

"Then maybe we just need to contain them." Rayne offers looking around at the men, Chris catches on to what she's thinking, but none of the others have, so she lets them onto her plan. "There's no one in the school at night, is there?"

"You want to trap them inside?" Derek asks.

Chris answers him, "If there's somewhere with a strong enough door, no windows or access to the outside."

"What about the boiler room?" Isaac offers. "It's just one big steel door."

Chris's mind is running quickly as he thinks, "You're sure the school's empty?"

"It has to be." Scott says looking around at the group. "There can't be anyone there this late, right?"

* * *

But as it turns out, there is someone there this late at night. Ms. Blake, the new teacher is working late, trying to catch up on her papers. She's in her classroom, with no idea what is about to come her way.

* * *

Chris stabs a silver stake into the ground, "These are ultrasonic emitters. It's one of the tools we use to corral werewolves, pushing them into a direction we want them to run." He presses the button on the top, it releases a bright light as well as a high pitched noise. "Gives off a high pitched frequency, that only they can hear."

"God, no kidding." Isaac growls out, Chris smirks as he looks up to see the four wolves covering their ears, grimaces on their faces.

Chris opens a container in the back of his car, dozens more of the stakes sit inside. He hands two to each of the wolf pack.

"These are gonna drive them to the school?" Derek asks as he takes them.

"And then it's up to you to get them into the basement." Chris says nodding.

"Does anyone else want to rethink the plan where we just, uh, kill 'em?" Isaac says, earning him a glare from both his Alphas.

Scott looks to his friend, "It's going to work." Derek gives him a skeptical look, Scott reiterates, "It'll work."

* * *

The four wolves run through the woods, placing the stakes throughout their route. Chris drives his car, dropping a stake out of his window into the ground. Derek and Rayne both hurl one, nailing them into the bark of two trees. At the school, Scott front flips down off the top of a bus, sticking the last stake into the ground. He stares up at the school, dark and foreboding in front of him.

* * *

Back in the woods, Derek has caught up to Rayne, he kneels down setting his last stake.

"And the hunted becomes the hunter. You really think a few high-tech dog whistles are gonna help?"

Derek turns his head to his Uncle, "I don't see you offering a hand." He stands up, turning to face him.

"But I would gladly cut one of yours off, if you wanna offer it." Rayne growls out, with a small condescending smirk to Peter.

He ignores Rayne's quip, "Personally, I'm trying to cut down on futile endeavors."

"Cora's alive."

"I heard. Let's throw the reunion party when she's not an unstoppable killing machine."

"I can stop her."

"Sure you can, by killing her… Which happens to be the point of this little exercise. Deucalion wants you to kill them. He wants you to get rid of his baggage, making it easier for you to join his pack. The fact that it was supposed to happen in the vault, and not up here, out in the open, doesn't change his plan. It just means that Boyd and Cora are gonna kill a few innocent people first."

"And I should just let them? I should be okay with innocent people dying?"

"Unless you're okay killing your own."

"We can catch them." Rayne says firmly, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Oh, come on. How much damage can they do? So they off a few homeless people, a drunk stumbling out of a bar too late. So what? Let Scott deal with it. Let him be the hero of his morally black and white world. The real survivors, you two and I, we live in shades of gray. Then again, even if you did kill them, you're still an Alpha."

Peter reaches down pressing the button, turning on the stake. "You can always make more werewolves."

Peter takes his leave, Rayne sees the look on Derek's face. "No. Do not tell me, you are actually considering listening to that psychopath. Derek, have you lost your mind?"

Derek avoids her gaze, which only makes Rayne's rage for wanting to rip Peter apart, all the more prominent. "So, you're willing to take the life of not only your Beta, but your sister too? Derek, that's Cora, out there. Your baby sister, the one you held in your arms the day she was born and you told her, "I will always be there for you. No matter what I will never let anything happen to you." You may have forgotten that, but I didn't. And what about Boyd? We already lost Erica. I know you care about your Betas, you aren't fooling me. You may be willing to sacrifice them, but I'm not. So if you plan on doing anything except saving them, I suggest you leave now. Mark my words Derek Hale, if you take their lives… I. Will. Take. Yours."

* * *

Rayne takes off to the school, leaving Derek behind, his mind reeling with everything. She gets there as Scott and Isaac rip the front doors to the school open. She moves over next to Chris who sets up the final stake, Scott runs over standing next to them. Chris is staring at the small lights moving around them, "Do you see that?"

"Yeah, it's a firefly." Scott says.

"No, no, I know, it—"

"What?" Rayne asks as she sees the concern on his face.

"It's, uh, it's very unusual. The, uh California fireflies aren't bioluminescent. They don't glow."

"Does that mean something?" Scott asks.

Before Chris can answer, they hear howling in the distance. Derek is inside the school, just in the open doors waiting. Isaac is out front, he hears growls behind him. "Oh great," he says turning around to find Boyd and Cora staring him down. Isaac's eyes glow yellow as he prepares for the attack, but before they can, Chris drives up in his car, headlights shining and horn honking, "Come on."

It works as the two run past Isaac to the open doors, inside Derek flicks out his claws. The two stop as they see him in front of them, and suddenly they leap up out of sight.

"They're not going through the school. They're going over it." Scott tells Rayne, as Chris runs up to them.

The group meets up in front of the school, Chris tells Derek, "The red doors, someone has to get them open."

Derek takes off inside, Scott turns to Chris, "Someone has to drive them inside."

"I'll go," Chris offers holding up his cattle prod.

"No." Isaac says, "'I'm faster." He rounds the back of the school to find bright flashes of light going off around Boyd and Cora, finally driving them inside the school. He shuts the door behind them, locking it, he looks up on top of the school bus to find Allison with her bow in hand, now he knows where the flashes came from. She runs off when she realizes Isaac has seen her.

Inside the school Boyd and Cora round a corner, Cora gets slammed into the lockers by her brother, then he throws her across the floor by Boyd. The male Beta growls at him, Chris comes in from the left side, cattle prod glowing. Scott and Rayne jump down from the staircase on the right, landing in a crouch in front of Derek.

The three wolves stand in a line, Derek looks to the two Betas, "Come and get us." Derek leads the way through the door and down the staircase leading to the boiler room. Derek rips open the steel door, the three scrambling inside as Boyd and Cora make their way down the stairs. The door slams shut behind them, nothing but their yellow eyes glowing in the pitch black darkness.

They walk down the small steps, their claws scratching the rails as they descend. They turn a corner only to be shot with CO2 from two fire extinguishers that Scott and Derek are holding. They stand there staring at one another until Rayne yells to them, "Come on!"

They turn running up the small stairs and back down the hallway, they run out, slamming the steel door shut behind them and Derek locking it. Scott stands back, leaning against the wall while Derek and Rayne lean against the door.

"Did that actually just work?" Scott asks.

"It worked," Derek says, letting out a breath.

The three of them lean back against the wall, staring at the door as the two Betas pound on it from the other side. Derek slides down the wall sitting on the floor, Rayne crouched next to him, he gives her a sideways smile which she returns. Scott approaches the door, listening carefully.

Derek eyes him, "What are you hearing?"

"Heartbeats."

"Both of 'em?" Rayne asks her head leaning back against the wall.

"Actually… Three of them."

The three wolves eye one another, knowing nothing good is going to come of this. They stare at the door, before Derek steps over reaching for the handle.

"What are you doing?" Scott asks him.

"Close the door behind me and keep it shut."

"You go in there alone. And you're either gonna kill them, or they kill you."

"That's why I'm going in alone."

Rayne lays her hand on Derek's, tears choking her voice, "Derek, remember what I said earlier."

"I know." He gives her a small smile, kissing her forehead. She backs up as he opens the door and shuts it behind him, Scott locking it.

Everywhere in the school, the snarls and growls echo. Argent and Isaac hear them, coming into the school to aid the wolves. Rayne is on her knees, tears filling her eyes. She can hear every growl, grunt and rip of flesh as the out of control Betas tear into Derek. She calls out to him, knowing he can hear her. Scott holds her back as she tries to open the door, desperately trying to get to her best friend.

Upstairs Isaac, runs through the school, "Scott!" He sees the sunlight coming through the windows. "The suns coming up. Rayne! The suns coming up!"

Isaac opens the door to the stairwell, just as Rayne rips open the steel door running inside. He follows the siblings in, they round the corner to find Boyd and Cora unconscious on the ground. Derek is on his knees in between them, his shirt is slashed front to back, gashes appear all over his body and face, slowly healing.

Panting Derek raises his head, claw marks mar his left cheek, "There's a teacher. I'll take care of her." He's breathing heavily, "Get them out of here."

As Scott and Isaac take the two Betas out, Derek looks up, locking eyes with Rayne. The tears falling from her eyes take Derek's breath away. Rayne never cries. He stands, opening his arms as she rushes into them. He ignores the pain in his body, just glad to have her this close to him.

Pulling away after several minutes, Rayne wipes the tears from her face. She drapes his left arm over her shoulders, helping him over to the supply cage. Slowly, they walk towards the teacher knowing what a sight they make covered in blood. Derek holds out his right hand to her, and with a small smile from Rayne, the teacher takes it.

* * *

Afterwards Rayne meets up with Scott and Stiles in the hospital morgue, Stiles telling them what he and their mom found out.

"So Boyd and Cora might not have killed anyone?" Scott asks him.

"You're gonna wish they did."

"Why?"

"I'm not exactly sure yet. But, the other girl who was out in the woods, Emily? Eventually they're gonna find her."

Out in the woods the police are running through the trees, desperately trying to find the missing girl.

"She's one of them. Emily, Heather… That guy Lydia found at the pool. All three were virgins…"

The Sheriff and one of his deputies come upon the body of Emily, she's tied by a cord around her neck, strangled. Blood covers her from the neck down, and in her hair.

"And they're all gonna have the same three injuries—strangled, throat slashed, head bashed in. It's called the threefold death."

"So if these aren't random killings, then what are they?" Rayne asks Stiles, even though she's dreading the answer.

"Sacrifices. Human sacrifices."


	4. Unleashed

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Wolf or anything related to it. I only own my original character Rayne and anything else that seems out of place.**

I want to say a big thank you to those that have reviewed this story so far. It means so much to me.

So with that being said on to the next chapter.

xoxo Tiearney

* * *

The next morning Ms. Blake enters the school, she's very jumpy after what happened the previous night. She rushes into her classroom, slamming the doo shut behind her, she stares out the glass. She sighs, shaking her head at her fears. She turns around only to scream when she sees the man from last night standing in her classroom. She grabs a long wooden pointer stick from off the table next to her, holding it in front of her like it would actually stop him. Outside the classroom, Rayne stands guard, listening to the two speak.

"What do you want? You gonna threaten me? Tell me that no one's gonna believe me? Try to scare me? Kill me?"

Derek stands with his hands behind his back, he takes three steps forward, "I was gonna see if you were okay."

"Physically or emotionally? Although I guess that presupposes I was emotionally okay before any of this. And according to my therapist, I— it's been debatable for a long time."

Derek gives a small smile, not for the teachers explanation, but because Rayne had whispered, "I can see why."

He steps forward slowly, reaching out with his left hand he takes the stick from her. "I think you're gonna be okay."

She smiles as she releases the stick, he steps back touching the tip of it, smiling.

"Obviously, you've never taught high school. In 20 minutes, I have to start two dozen teenagers on _The Crucible, _and I honestly have no idea what I'm gonna say."

"Well, why don't you start by telling them that it's an allegory for McCarthyism?"

"Is that a subtle way of suggesting that I shouldn't say anything? Because I won't."

Derek looks down smiling, he steps forward handing her back the stick. She smiles at him, he walks past her to the doorway.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Derek."

"Jennifer."

The two smile as the door swings shut behind Derek. He lifts his head up coming to face Rayne, who is smirking at him. They head out of the school together, Derek notices Rayne's attitude. "What?"

"That. Was sickening."

"Jealous?"

She scoffs, "Oh please. I thought you preferred women who can take care of themselves. Never thought of you as the damsel in distress type."

Derek stops her, pinning her against the car. "You are jealous." Rayne avoids his eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "I like it. It's hot."

Rayne shoves him, not that he budges any. "I just get this weird vibe off her, okay."

"You're right. She's not my type. I've got a thing for a feisty, smart-mouthed, stubborn Alpha she-wolf."

"Mmm, she sounds pretty great." Rayne says smiling, her eyes meeting his.

"She's my best friend."

"Well, you should definitely tell her how you feel. You know, with the way things are going, one minute later, could be too late."

* * *

Back at the loft Rayne is sitting on the couch, her feet propped up on the table, watching the brother/sister fight that was sure to spark very shortly.

Cora was officially driving Derek up a wall, she hadn't sat still since she had come to from the other night. She was currently doing chin-ups on a hanging pipe. Derek stood behind her, shaking his head.

"Stop. You're not done healing."

"Yeah. Well I'm tired of lying around." She said dropping to the floor and settling into push-ups.

"Then sit."

"Are you two gonna help me go after them?"

Derek walks over, swiping Cora's hand out from under her with his foot, she falls to her back. She gets up quickly throwing lefts and rights at Derek, who just swats them away, finally grabbing both her wrists and pushing her back.

"Come on, fight back!" She yells. "I came back for this?" She scoffs looking over at Rayne, "I can't believe I got my ass thrown in a vault for three months for you. All those rumors I heard. A powerful new Alpha, one of the Hale's, building a pack. Do you know how long I waited to hear something like that? Do you have any idea how it felt to find out you were alive?"

Rayne can see the crushed look on Derek's face, "I'm sorry to disappoint you."

Suddenly the alarm starts buzzing, the red light on the panel behind them flashing. Rayne bolts up off the couch, claws out, ready for the fight she knows is outside the door.

"What's that?" Cora asks as they hear the door start to open.

"Trouble." Derek says.

The door is shoved open violently, the tall Alpha from the hospital outside, eyes red, teeth bared, and growling. Cora growls in return, she lowers into a fighting stance.

Derek yells to her, "No, wait. Wait!"

Cora charges the Alpha only to be grabbed by the throat, lifted into the air and slammed down back first onto the floor. The Alpha looks up at Derek, "Ready for a rematch?"

Derek starts towards him but stops as another Alpha strolls through the door. A she-wolf, barefoot with toe nails as long as Rayne's claws. She stops in the doorway, growling lowly eyeing Rayne.

"Come on. How bout a little girl fight?"

Rayne bares her teeth, she jumps past Derek, charging the she-wolf. Anticipating her movements Rayne slows, just as the she-wolf moves to dodge her, Rayne slashes down with her claws, slicing the she-wolfs left shoulder open. Back and forth they trade blows, until she catches Rayne with a swipe to her face, momentarily blinding her.

Derek grabs Rayne pulling her behind him, she sits on the floor next to the couch. The Alpha charges him, kicking her deadly feet at him. Derek manages to dodge every kick, until he grabs her leg trapping it against his side, then grabbing her upper body and throwing her to the side. She flips in the air, landing on her hands and knees.

Derek roars at her his eyes red, the she-wolf growls back. Looking above her she spies the pipe Cora was using for chin-ups, she jumps up, grabbing it and ripping it down. Steam hisses from the broken pipe as she twirls it, advancing on Derek. She hits Derek in the chin with it, snapping his head back and spinning him around. She hits him across the back knocking him to the floor. She approaches Derek, spinning the pipe over her head, before she slams it down, piercing the pipe completely through Derek.

His loud and painful roar, coupled with Cora's gasp, brings Rayne's attention back. Through the blood over her eyes, and the fact she can't see out of her left eye, she can barely see Derek on his hands and knees, impaled by the broken pipe. The she-wolf holding the pipe in place, effectively immobilizing Derek.

A tapping sound is heard by the door, Rayne looks over to find Deucalion has made his way to the party.

"Everybody done?" He asks. "Cause just listening to that was exhausting." He makes his way over to a chair sitting in front of Derek, "So…" He folds up his walking stick and sits down, "Let's chat."

"Sorry about this Derek. I asked Kali to be gentle, but—"

"This is me being gentle." She twists the pipe roughly making Derek groan, gasping for breath.

"Let— let her go." Derek says, referring to Cora.

Deucalion motions to the tall Alpha who lets Cora go, she immediately stands up scrambling to reach her brother. Derek looks over at her, "No." She stops immediately.

"See? We're not unreasonable." He turns his head slightly, "Rayne. So good to see you again, and so grown up. Why don't you come sit next to me, I'm sure Derek would like the company."

Rayne stands up, gritting her teeth, confused at his comment, just as she reaches his side she swipes out with her claws. Deucalion grabs her arm, his claws embedding deeply into her forearm flesh. "Now that wasn't very nice. Kneel!" He yanks down on her arm, she falls to her knees next to him. He continues to hold her arm as he speaks, blood running down her arm and pooling on the floor.

"She's feisty Derek. I see why you like her."

"What do you want?" Derek asks. "You want to kill me?"

"You really think I'm that boring? Don't throw me in with sociopaths like your Uncle. I'm a man with far more vision than simple murder. In fact—" He takes off his glasses, "I'm here to show you just how much vision a blind man can have." His eyes glow a bright red as Rayne and Derek stare at him.

Kali again twists the pipe around in Derek's body, he gasps blood now falling from his lips. Cora steps forward desperate to reach her brother, "You're killing him!"

"Not yet little sister. But I could." Kali says looking to Cora with a smile.

Cora rubs her hands over her face, as she listens to Derek's choking and coughing on his own blood.

"Who knows if it's five minutes or five hours." She wrenches the pipe around in his body, "Before it's too late to take this thing out. But just to be on the safe side Duke, you might want to get to the point."

"Now you see the one problem with being in an Alpha pack. Everybody wants to make the decisions. Me? I'm more about discovering new talents… Like you."

"Not interested." Derek chokes out.

"But you haven't even heard my pitch."

"You want me to… kill my own pack."

"No. I want you to kill one of them. Do that, and I won't have to ask you to kill the others. You'll do it on your own. I did it. Ennis did. Kali did. Tell him what it's like, Kali, to kill one of your own."

"Mm… Liberating." She practically purrs.

"Listen to me, Derek. Do you really want to stay beholden to a couple of maladjusted teenagers bound to become a liability? And believe me, they will become a liability. In fact… I have a feeling one of them is getting himself into trouble right now."

Deucalion finally releases Rayne's arm, she cradles it in her lap, blood dripping steadily from the five deep puncture wounds. Deucalion stands up, Rayne is now focused on the thickening blood slowly running down the pipe from Derek's chest.

"See, the reason I'm always invested in new talent is simple. We all know a pack is strongest due to its individual parts. The stronger the individual parts, the greater the whole."

He unfurls his cane, "When I lost my sight, one of my Betas assumed I wasn't fit for my role anymore. He tried to take it from me. Killing him taught me something about Alphas, I didn't know they could do. His power was added to mine. I became stronger, faster, more powerful than I'd ever been. I tested this new ability to subsume the power of your own by killing another one. In fact, Derek, I killed them all. I took the individual parts and became a greater individual whole."

Deucalion kneels down in front of Derek, grabbing his hair with a hand, he lifts Derek's face up tracing it with his fingers. He drops Derek's head chuckling, "You're right, Kali. He looks like his mother." He stands up again, walking over towards the desk. "You'll get to know me, Derek. Like she did."

"I know you. I know what you are." Blood drops from Derek's mouth with every word. "You're a fanatic."

Deucalion sets his stick on the desk, turning around his face is a mask of fury. "Know me? You've never seen anything like me. I am the Alpha of all Alphas."

Thunder sounds around them.

"I am the Apex of Apex predators! I am death, destroyer of worlds! I am the Demon-wolf!"

Cora crouches terrified behind a beam, even Rayne shrinks back slightly, the tone of his voice rumbles the loft. Kali removes the pipe from Derek, he collapses Rayne cradling his head on her leg. Deucalion takes off his glasses, the lenses shattered when he screamed, "Hate it when that happens."

The three Alphas take their leave, as Cora runs over to her brothers side.

* * *

That night Derek stands by the window, watching the rain fall. Cora is hiding around the corner of the broken wall, while Rayne stands by the couch watching her Beta speak to Derek. The look on his face breaks her heart, but she agreed not to tell him about what happened earlier in the loft with Deucalion. Derek decided that it was safer for Isaac not to be around him. So like always, Derek turned his emotions off, thinking that the best way to protect someone is to drive them away.

"Ah… I don't get it." Isaac says. "Look, did something happen?"

"It's just not gonna work with both of you here. I've got Cora now, it's too much. And I need you out tonight."

Isaac scoffs, "Where am I supposed to go?"

"Somewhere else."

"Did I do something wrong, Derek?"

Derek turns around to face him, "You're doing something wrong right now by not leaving." He points towards the door.

"Oh, come on."

"Just get out."

"Derek, please."

"Get out!"

"Come on."

"Go!" Derek tosses his glass at the beam, it hits above Isaac's head, shattering, Isaac cowers.

Rayne has seen enough, she walks over taking Isaac's arm, "Come on. You'll stay with me." She picks up his bag handing it to him. "Wait for me downstairs, okay?"

Her Beta nods to her as he leaves the loft, head down. Rayne turns to Derek, he's leaning on the desk his head hanging down. "You happy? Is that really how you wanna play this with Deucalion? Do you honestly think that shoving everyone away from you is going to change what he wants to happen? Derek, one way or another, someone is going to die. How many times have you said, we're stronger together. Pushing everyone away is like you saying, you're giving up. And what about Cora? You're not sending her away. Why, because she's blood? And Isaac's not? So that means he doesn't matter to you, none of them do? That means I don't mean anything to you either. I'm not blood. Well, as far as you know. Derek, Isaac worships you. You helped him escape from his own personal hell, he would do anything for you. We all would."

"And that's the problem. I don't want to see any of you die because of me or by my hand."

"So be it. But remember one thing, you aren't the only one Deucalion is after. We are all in danger. So when you're done being a selfish asshole, and realize you need our help, you know where to find me." She turns and walks towards the door, "Oh, and Isaac will be with me. A true Alpha, never abandons their pack."

* * *

Scott is in his room sitting at his desk when there's a knock on his door. "Come in, mom." He says not getting up, assuming that's who it is.

The door opens and a soaking wet Isaac steps into the room, "I-I was wondering if I could ask you a favor."

Scott sees Rayne standing in the doorway, her expression tells him everything he needs to know as he sets Isaac up a place to sleep.


	5. Frayed

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Wolf or anything related to it. I only own my original character Rayne and anything else that seems out of place.**

I want to say a big thank you to those that have reviewed this story so far. It means so much to me. **NicoleR85 and Marine76**

So with that being said on to the next chapter.

xoxo Tiearney

* * *

On a school bus headed out of town, the mood between 4 young teenage boys is very solemn. In a row about the middle of the bus sits Isaac and Boyd. Isaac looks over at his pack mate, "Stop thinking about it man."

"Like, you're not thinking about it too?" Boyd says calling him on it.

"Yeah, well, we'll both stop thinking about it."

"I can't."

"Well, there's nothing you can do about it either."

"You sure about that?" Boyd says casting his eyes two rows back on the opposite side of the bus where one of the twins, Ethan is sitting with Danny.

"Everything okay?" Danny asks, noticing Ethan keeps checking his phone.

"Yeah. Why?" Ethan says smirking.

"You checked your phone three times in the last five minutes."

"Waiting for a message."

"Anything important?"

"No." Ethan tells him smiling, but as Danny looks away, Ethan's face falls. "Nothing." He looks behind him to the very back of the left side of the bus where Scott and Stiles sit.

Scott has his head lagging on the window, he looks almost lifeless, Stiles is typing away on his tablet. Scott closes his eyes, growls and screams fill his mind. He sees himself, wolfed out crawling across the floor desperate to reach the person falling from the ledge next to him, as he hears his sisters screams.

"Yo, Scotty." Stiles snaps his fingers bringing Scott back to Earth, "Hey, yo, Scotty?"

Scott opens his eyes, sitting up he looks at Stiles.

"Still with me?"

"Yeah, sorry." Scott tells him. "Uh, what's the word?"

"Anachronism."

"Something that exists out of its normal time."

"Nice. Okay, next word—"Incongruous."

"Um, can you use it in a sentence?"

"Yes. Yes I can. It's completely incongruous that we're sitting on a bus right now, on our way to some stupid cross-country meet after what just happened. Incongruous."

"Out of place, ridiculous, absurd."

"Perfect. Okay, next word."

"Um, Darach." Scott's head whips over to stare at his best friend. "Darach, it's a noun."

Stiles looks slowly over to Scott, "We have to talk about it sometime, okay? And we're gonna be stuck in this thing for, like, five hours, so why not?" Scott doesn't say a word, "Next word—"

Stiles clears his throat, "Intransigent."

"Stubborn, obstinate." The bus hits a large bump and Scott gasps, grimacing in pain.

"Oh, buddy, you okay?"

Scott exhales, more pain wracks his body.

"We shouldn't have come. I knew it. We shouldn't have come."

"We had too. There's safety in numbers."

"Yeah, well, there's also death in numbers, okay?" Stiles tells him sarcastically. "It's called a massacre—" He flips a page on his tablet, "Or bloodbath, carnage, slaughter, butchery, wow, that's—"

Scott groans again and Stiles flips, "All right, Scott, I'm telling Coach that—"

"No. No, no, no. I'm all right."

"Well you don't look all right. Would you just let me see it?" He reaches for Scott jacket and Scott startles shoving his hand away.

"I'm okay."

"Just let me see it, okay?"

"Okay." Scott moves his jacket aside, lifting up his t-shirt, revealing the three deep, long gouges in the left side of his torso.

"Oh, dude—"

"I know it's bad, but it's because they're from an Alpha. It'll take longer to heal."

"How come Boyd and Isaac are fine then?"

Scott ignores him, laying his head against the window, "I can't believe he's dead."

* * *

Behind the bus in a lifted black truck is Rayne, windows rolled down, black sunglasses covering her eyes from the blinding sun. She shifts, gasping as her tank top rubs on one of the four deep, open lacerations on the right side of her chest. She's very pale, fighting for breath. Like her brother, she's not healing as quickly as she had thought they would. Something was wrong. And Rayne had a good idea what it was.

In her left hand she holds a silver chain, in the center hangs an intricate weaving of silver vines adorned with 5 black roses, the largest rose sat just above a red heart, and from the bottom of said heart was a lone red teardrop.

Derek had given it to her just yesterday morning, she was shocked and elated when he had presented it to her, clasping it around her neck himself. But now it was just a painful reminder of what she had lost.

She glanced at a picture of her and Derek from years ago, whispering, "I can't believe you're dead."

Both siblings whisper again in tandem, "I can't believe Derek's dead."

* * *

Directly behind the bus, in front of Rayne's truck is a small black car. Inside are Allison and Lydia, they decided just as Rayne to follow the boys and make sure they were safe.

"Am I getting too close? I'm getting way too close, aren't I?"

Lydia stares out the windshield, twirling her hair, "That depends. Are you just following the bus, or are you planning on mounting it at some point?"

"Yeah, I should back off."

"Well, that also depends. Oh, do you mean the bus or the ex-boyfriend you're currently stalking?"

"Well, after it happened, I'm not letting him out of my sight."

Lydia gives her a look and Allison starts again, "And by the way, this all started when he came knocking at my door."

"For what?"

* * *

_Allison doesn't say, she simply thinks back to the previous day when Scott came to her house, holding one of her arrows in his hand. She knew he had found it outside of the school, knew that she had helped with Boyd and Cora. The got into a small battle of how well Allison could take care of herself, and little to say, Scott made her feel weak._

_After leaving her apartment, Scott meets Deucalion in the elevator. Immediately after he heads to Derek's loft to let him know. He opens the door to find Derek, Peter, Cora and Rayne huddled around the desk._

"_I know where they are."_

"_Same building as the Argent's, we know." Derek tells him._

"_Cora and I followed the twins." Boyd admits to Scott._

"_Then they want you to know." Scott tells them all._

_Peter stands interjecting his two cents, "Or, more likely, they don't care."_

"_What is this?' Scott asks looking down at the building plans on the desk top._

"_Isn't it obvious?" Peter says, "The schemers are scheming, coming up with a Coup De Main, better known as a pre-emptive strike."_

"_You're going after them?" Scott asks looking first to his sister then to Derek._

"_Tomorrow." Derek says. "And you're gonna help us."_

_Scott and Rayne are again thinking abut what happened. The carnage, Boyd falling to the floor, Cora being slashed open by Ennis, Derek and Rayne fighting Kali._

* * *

The Coach whistles, "Two of you, back in your seats." He looks down at one of his students, "Jared, again, car sick? Every ti—How do you even get on the bus? Look at me. No, don't look at me. Look at the horizon. Keep your eyes—Keep your eyes on the horizon. McCall, not you too."

Scott sits up, grimacing, he clear his throat, "No, Coach, I'm good."

"Hey, Scott, you're bleeding again. And don't tell me that's just taking longer to heal, okay? Because I'm pretty sure that still bleeding means not healing. Like, at all."

Scott's eyes find Ethan, "He's listening."

"Is he gonna do something?"

"Not in front of this many people."

"Okay, well," Stiles motions in front of them to Isaac and Boyd, "What about the two ticking time bombs sitting right near him?"

As if to reiterate Stiles' point, Boyd glances back at Ethan, Scott assures Stiles, "No they won't. Not here."

"Okay, well, what if they do? Are you gonna stop 'em?"

"If I have too."

* * *

"_They're one floor above them in the penthouse, right above Allison." Derek tells the group._

"_So kill them first, that's the plan?"_

"_Not a very good one is it?" Rayne says sarcastically glancing to Derek, "He won't listen to reason Scott."_

"_They won't even see it coming." Boyd says._

"_Why is the default plan always murder?" Scott asks them, "Just once, can someone try to come up with something that doesn't involve killing everyone?"_

"_You never get tired of being so blandly moral, do you? Not that I disagree with him." Peter says looking to Derek, surprising Rayne._

"_I do." Cora chimes in, "Why do we need this kid?" _

_Rayne opens her mouth but Derek beats her to it, "This kid helped save your life.' He then turns to Scott, "And you know we can't just sit back and wait for them to make the first move."_

"_You can't beat a pack of Alpha's." Scott reminds him._

"_That's why we're going after Deucalion, just him." Cora says._

_Boyd interjects, "Cut off the head of the snake and the body dies."_

"_Only this isn't a snake, it's a hydra." Rayne tells them. "And like Scott says, they're all Alphas."_

"_Deucalion's still the leader." Derek says._

_Rayne rolls her eyes as Peter turns to his Nephew, "Let's hope so. Because you know what happened when Hercules cut off one of the heads of the Hydra?"_

"_Two more grew back in its place," the McCall siblings say together._

_Peter smirks, "Somebody's been doing their summer reading." Rayne can't help but roll her eyes, however she gives Peter a smile._

* * *

Back in the car, Lydia has her head buried in a book, _Thermodynamic Asymmetry in Time_. She sets the book down, turning to Allison, "So is that whole "not let them out of your sight" thing literal or more like a general rule?"

"Why?"

"You're running on fumes."

Allison glances down at the gas gauge, Lydia's right, "Ugh."

"Yeah. And I'm pretty sure that bus holds a lot more gas than this Toyota."

"What if we stop?"

"Is it really that big of a deal? I mean, so we lose them."

"We know where they're headed."

"You didn't see what happened."

"I know who started it."

"Is that what Aiden told you?"

"Aiden? Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on a second. Is that why you're inviting me on this whole little road trip thing?" Allison looks away from her. "Oh my gosh. You're keeping an eye on them and me."

"So there's nothing going on between you two?"

"I'm appalled by the insinuation."

Allison smiles, "Nothing?"

"Nothing." Lydia says, even as she thinks back to she and Aiden hooking up at school. She sees Allison looking at her, "What?"

* * *

Suddenly the bus comes to a stop, a long line of traffic is dead stopped in front of them. Isaac is looking on his phone, "There's a jackknifed tractor a few miles ahead. Could miss the meet." He notices his friend isn't listening and looking away from him, "Boyd? Boyd?"

Boyd snarls, his eyes turning yellow, as he glances back at Ethan. Scott notices it and he tries to stand up in the seat, Stiles notices, "What—what—Scott? Where you going?"

"Boyd. He's gonna do something."

"Okay, what? How do you know?"

"Look at his hands."

Sure enough when Stiles looks, Boyd's right hand in sitting on top of the seat in front of him, claws fully extended.

* * *

_Scott thinks back to the elevator with Deucalion, he flicks out his claws, turning to the blind man._

"_Come on, Scott, put those away. I'd have to be blind, deaf, and a quadriplegic for you to be an actual threat. Or maybe you should take a chance. Your heartbeat's steady. You might be afraid of me, but you're controlling it. Maybe you'd actually rise to the occasion, become an Alpha by killing one."_

"_I'm not like you. I don't have to kill people."_

"_Hm. Not yet. But situations come about, situations where you realize the only way to protect one person is to kill another."_

"_You want to threaten me, is that why you're here?"_

"_No. I live here."_

"_What?"_

"_I live here. It's a great building. And the neighbors are surprisingly friendly."_

"_What do you want?"_

"_I want to see what you're made of. _

_Again Scott flashes back to the fight, Derek fighting Ennis, the two of them holding one another shirts. They battle pushing one another towards the ledge. Scott scrambles to get to Derek, dragging himself across the floor, but he's too late as the two Alphas fall off the ledge. Derek locks eyes with Scott as he tumbles off the edge. Scott and Rayne stare over the edge to the floor far below, where Derek's body lies broken on an escalator two floors below._

* * *

Back at the abandoned mall, where the fight took place, Cora is on the escalators looking at the dried blood. She hears something clatter at the top to her right, she stands, but it's only Peter.

"It's just me, your Uncle, Uncle Peter."

"Uncle Peter who killed sister Laura."

"Mm, not my finest hour, no. But I'm hardly the only dysfunctional family member. Did Derek mention that he killed me too? Slashed my throat, ear to ear."

"So that means I should trust you?"

"Actually, I'm wondering if I can trust you."

"You've known me for 17 years."

"I knew you for 11, leaving the last 6 unaccounted for. And I'm not particularly fond of things unaccounted."

"What are you doing here?"

"Same as you—wondering where the bodies went. Wondering if they were carried out, or maybe if one of them managed to find enough strength to push themself up off the floor and walk out, leaving the two of us standing here to answer the all important question."

"Which one?"

* * *

Back on the bus Scott is moving over Stiles trying to reach Boyd, his own voice is echoing in his head. _"I don't know what else to do. Do I keep trying to get them to listen to me? Do I tell Derek that he's gonna get them all killed? How do save someone who doesn't wanna be saved? How do I stop them?"_

"_Don't stop them." Deaton tells him. "Lead them."_

Scott struggles to reach Boyd, his face sweating, he grabs Boyd's hand, kneeling down in the isle.

"Let go."

"You got a plan." Scott says, "Tell me your brilliant plan, and I'll let go. What are you gonna do? Kill him, right here? And then what? What are you gonna do after that?"

Boyd looks calmly at Scott, "I don't care." He then lunges at Ethan, Scott using all his remaining strength to hold him back, Isaac helping as well.

"I do." Scott tells him.

Isaac notices the blood on Scott's shirt, "Whoa, whoa, you're still hurt."

"I'm fine. Give me a chance to figure something out, something that doesn't have to end with someone else dying."

"Okay." Boyd agrees.

Scott gingerly stands up, heading back to his seat, Stiles moves so he can sit back down. "Crisis averted?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Okay, good. Cause we got another problem. Ethan keeps checking his phone, like, every five minutes. It's like he's waiting for something, you know, like, a message or a signal of some kind. I don't know, something evil though, I can tell. I have a very perceptive eye for evil, you know that."

"I don't like him sitting with Danny."

"Yeah, neither do I." Stiles grabs his phone out of his pocket, "I'm gonna see what he's waiting for."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna ask."

Danny hears his phone chime, he takes it out of his pocket, it's from Stiles. _'Find out why Ethan keeps checking his phone.'_

Danny looks back to Stiles, shaking his head no. He puts his phone back in his pocket, only for it to chime again. _'Just do it!'_

'_No.'_ He texts back.

'_ASK HIM.'_

Danny turns back to Stiles again, shaking his head. _'No I like this guy. What's wrong with you?'_

'_It's important. PLEASE.'_

Danny shakes his head, putting his phone away. In the back Stiles is flipping out, throwing his hands up. Danny phone repeatedly chimes, he ignores it, but it catches Ethan's attention.

"Something wrong?" Ethan asks him.

"Actually, I was… wondering the same thing about you."

Ethan quickly looks back at Scott and Stiles who quickly duck their heads behind the seat. Stiles groaning out, "Well that wasn't very subtle."

Ethan looks back forward, as Scott and Stiles sit up, the pain on Scott's face is more than evident now. Stiles phone chimes, he glances down at it, _'Someone close to him is sick. Might not make it through the night.'_

"Ennis?" Scott wonders.

"Okay, so does that mean, uh—"

"He's not dead."

"Not yet."

* * *

In her truck, Rayne gets a text from her brother, _'Ennis isn't dead. If he survived the fall, maybe Derek did too.'_

Rayne's throat constricts, _'Scott. Cora text me earlier, Derek's body is gone.'_

'_Where did it go? Could he be alive?'_

'_I don't know. But God I hope he is. How are you?'_

'_Still not healing. You?"_

'_Same. Still bleeding heavily. I don't get it.'_

'_Me neither. Keep me informed. I love you sis.'_

'_I love you too.'_

* * *

_Rayne thinks back to last night, after the meeting with her brother and the rest of the pack. She's standing at the window arms crossed over her chest, staring out at the sky, trying not to think about what was going to happen tomorrow night._

_All of a sudden her eyes are covered, she sighs smiling, "Derek, what are you doing?"_

"_Just keep your eyes closed."_

"_What for?"_

"_Please, Rayne."_

_She's taken aback at his gentle, almost pleading tone, she lets out a huff, "Fine." She shuts her eyes tightly and stands up straight, patiently waiting._

_Something cold touches her chest and then encircles her neck, Derek's fingers brush the back of her neck, making Rayne's breath catch. His hands leave her but she still feels his presence behind her, she takes that as her cue to look. Opening her eyes, "Oh, Derek." She gasps when she sees the beautiful necklace Derek placed around her neck._

"_Do you like it?" His voice his hesitant as he speaks._

_She turns around to face him, "I love it. It's beautiful."_

"_You said the other day, that with the way things are going, one minute later, could be too late. And just thinking about tomorrow, I don't know what's going to happen. So I just— Rayne I want you to know— no I need you to know, that I— I—"_

_Rayne smiles at his nervousness, "I know. Your secret is safe with me Derek."_

"_Rayne, I wanna say it, I do. I'm just—"_

"_Derek, I understand. Believe me I do, if anyone understands you, it's me. You say it whenever you're ready, I'm not going anywhere."_

_He smiles wrapping his arms around her waist, her arms winding around his neck. He gazes down into her Cerulean eyes, seeing the love she has for him, swimming in them. At this moment, that is all he needs. He leans down gently brushing his lips against her own, Rayne however turns the tables as she grasps the back of his neck and attacks his lips hungrily. Derek smiles against her mouth, yeah this is what he needs. _

Rayne rubs her fingers over her lips, still feeling the kiss.

* * *

Meanwhile Coach is having a nervous breakdown with the nauseous kid, "Jared, I'm warning you. I'm an empathetic vomiter. You throw up, I'm gonna throw up right back on you. And it will be profoundly disgusting."

"Please don't talk about throwing up." The kid tells Coach. "It's not good."

"I might throw up on you just to make a point, Jared."

"It's not good. It's not good."

"Now the rest of you, don't think we're gonna miss this meet because of a slight traffic jam, a minor tornado warning, Jared. We're gonna make this thing. Nothing is gonna stop us! Stilinski, put your hand down."

"You know, there's, like, a food exit about a half a mile up. I don't know if we stop and then maybe—"

"We're not gonna stop."

"Okay, but if we stop—"

"Stilinski!" Coach blows his whistle, "Shut it! Seriously! It's a little bus! Stop asking me questions!"

Stiles sits back down covering his mouth, "I hate him. Did you call Deaton?"

Scott sighs, "I keep getting his voicemail."

"That's it." Stiles reaches for his phone in his pocket. "I'm calling Lydia and Allison."

"How are they gonna help, back in Beacon Hills?"

"They're not. They've been following us for hours. Just in front of your sister. Pathetic."

Lydia's phone rings, she looks at the screen and at Allison before answering, "Hey, Stiles. Yeah, we're just about to walk into a movie, uh, you know, the popcorn and—"

"I know you guys are right behind us. Put me on speaker."

"Oh, okay." Lydia pulls the phone from her ear, putting the speakerphone on.

"Okay, look, Scott's still hurt."

"What do you mean still? He's not healing?" Allison asks.

"No, he's not healing. I think he's actually getting worse. The bloods turning, like, a black color."

"W-what's wrong with him?" Lydia asks.

"What's wrong with him? I don't— do I have a PhD in Lycanthropy. How am I supposed to know that?"

"We need to get him off the bus." Allison says.

"And take him where, a hospital?" Lydia asks her.

"If he's dying, yeah."

"Stiles, there's a rest area about a mile up. Tell the Coach to pull over."

"Yeah, I've been trying."

"Well, reason with him."

"Reason? Have you met this guy?"

"Just try something."

Stiles hangs up the phone, standing up he approaches the Coach, "Coach, It's five minutes for a bathroom break, okay? We've been on this thing for, like, three hours—"

Coach blows his whistle.

"It's 60 miles to the next rest stop—"

He blows it again.

"Being cooped up for hours is not good—"

And again.

"You know, our bladders aren't exactly—"

And again.

"Coach—"

And again.

"This is—"

And again.

"Can you—"

And again.

"Please—"

Every time Stiles opens his mouth to speak, Coach blows the whistle.

"Let me talk!"

Whistle again. Coach laughs.

"Every time—"

Whistle again, only this time he holds it, whistling long.

"Get back to your seat, Stilinski!"

"Okay!" Stiles yells, wiping his mouth before turning around.

"And Jared, keep your eyes on the horizon."

Stiles stops, he looks over at Jared, a grin forming on his face. He sits down next to the kid, "Hey, Jared."

The kid looks at him queasily.

"How you doing?" Stiles face breaks into a seriously evil grin.

* * *

Next thing everyone knows, Jared has vomited all over the bus. The pull into the rest stop, everyone coughing and running off the bus. Coach leans out the window with a bottle of air freshener, "Jared, you suck! Hey, somebody grab some towels or a mop or a new bus."

Rayne gets out of her truck, meeting up with Stiles and Allison who have Scott with them. They take him into the bathroom setting him down on the floor, Lydia follows them in. Allison lifts up Scott's shirt revealing the wound, "Oh, my God. Why didn't you tell us?"

"Sorry." Scott mutters.

"Just give us a second, okay?"

Allison and Rayne stand up, the four of them walking across from Scott.

"This shouldn't be happening." Allison says. "I've seen him heal from worse than this."

Lydia looks over to Rayne's chest, "Rayne, you're not healing either."

The other two turn their attention to Rayne as well, seeing the wounds that look like Scott's. Rayne takes a deep breath, she's suddenly very pale and weak, "I know. I don't know why."

"Okay, what do we do then? Do we just call an ambulance?" Stiles asks them.

"What if it's too late? What if they can't help?" Allison says looking to Stiles.

"We gotta do something." Stiles says watching Rayne kneel down next to her brother, "They're both gonna die."

"You know, it could be psychological." Lydia says thinking.

Stiles catches on, "What do you mean, like, psychosomatic?"

"Somatoformic." Lydia corrects him.

"Som—" Stiles can't even say it.

"A physical illness from a psychogenic cause. Yes, it's all in their heads."

"All in their heads?" Stiles says. "Because of Derek. They're not letting themselves heal cause Derek died."

"So what do we do?" Allison asks.

Lydia rummages through her purse, pulling out a sewing kit, "Stitch 'em up." The other two look at her like she's crazy, "I'm serious. Maybe all they need to do is just believe it's healing."

The three of them nod, they turn to the siblings. "No." Rayne says after they explain their theory. "I deserve this."

Allison is stunned, "Rayne, you need to allow yourself to heal. Derek, would forgive you. You need to forgive yourself. You're gonna die Rayne."

"So be it. At least then I won't have to live without him." Rayne chokes out, tears clouding her eyes, "Help Scott. He doesn't deserve to die."

They each give in not wanting to but knowing you can't argue with Rayne. They strip Scott's shirt off of him, as Allison sterilizes the needle, turning to Stiles, "He's gonna need another shirt. Where's his bag?"

"Um, I'm gonna get it. I hate needles anyway, so— Uh, do you know what you're doing?"

"Yeah, my father taught me."

"I mean, how fast are you gonna—I mean, the bus, like, the bus could leave."

"Well, you just make sure it doesn't leave."

"I can help." Lydia says. "Come on."

Rayne follows them out, she needs to check on Isaac and Boyd.

Allison kneels down in front of Scott, holding his chin in her hand "Okay. Okay, stay with me. Stay with me, okay? Stay with me."

"I'm tired."

"Scott, just look at me, okay? Just keep looking at me." Allison tries to place the thread through the eye of the needle, she keeps missing. "Come on. Come on. Come on."

"Unbelievable." Allison hears her mothers voice in her head. "One simple little task? You can't thread a needle?"

"I'm trying."

"Well, you want my sympathy? Because you're just a 17-year-old little girl and this is all too much for you to handle. Well, get over it. Thread the needle."

"My hands won't stop shaking."

"Breathe. Allison. breathe." Victoria says gently.

Allison takes a deep breath, Victoria coaches her, "Try it again." Allison just can't get her hands to stop shaking, she cries out in anger, her lips trembling.

"Okay. How do we approach a situation like this?" Her mother asks.

Allison whimpers. Victoria yells, "Allison!"

"Clinically!"

"And?"

"And unemotional— And unemotionally."

"Then stop crying and do it."

Allison sniffles, forcing her tears back and taking a deep breath, she finally threads the needle. She gasps in relief, quickly and methodically stitching Scott up. "Stay with me, stay with me."

* * *

Outside Coach blows his whistle, "Let's go. Back on the bus!"

* * *

Inside the bathroom, Allison has finished stitching Scott up. "Okay. Scott. Scott?" He doesn't move, she places her ear up to his mouth, no breath, "Scott?" She sits back from him, scared, covering her mouth, "Scott?"

_Scott is reliving Derek falling to his death. Isaac drags him and Rayne away from the ledge, the three of them not believing what happened. _

He comes to as he hears Allison, scream his name. "Scott!"

"It's my fault."

"Scott, look at me. It's okay."

Scott glances down at his stitched up torso, "Did you do that?"

"Yeah."

"Nice." Scott says smiling.

Allison laughs at him, "Can you stand?" She helps him up, "Okay. Put this on." She helps him out his shirt on.

* * *

_Scott flashes back to that night, he's in his room putting on his jacket, he grabs his helmet and turns around. "Oh whoa." He startles as he finds Isaac in the doorway to his room, smirking._

"_Where are you going?"_

"_Uh, I was gonna go get some food to eat. With my sister."_

"_Oh, cool. I'll come with you."_

"_Nah, dude, it's okay. We can eat alone."_

"_What are you getting?"_

_Scott stutters, "Uh, Mexican."_

"_Dude, I love Mexican—"_

"_Isaac." Scott stops him, "I can eat alone, it's okay."_

"_You're not going alone. She's my Alpha, and you're my friend." Isaac smirks, grabbing his helmet. "Come on."_

_The two of them jump on Scott motorcycle, they meet up with Rayne inside the abandoned mall. They get off the bike taking off their helmets._

"_We're just gonna talk to him, try to reason with him. That's it." He says looking pointedly at Isaac. "What?"_

"_Nothing. It's just that, uh, I'm actually kind of hungry now." Isaac says making Rayne give a small smile. _

_Scott pats him on the back, "So am I."_

* * *

Allison has Scott's arm around her shoulders as they come out of the bathroom. Lydia runs over to them, "Is he okay? Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Stiles. Where's Stiles?" Scott says.

Lydia takes his bag, "Trying to stall Coach." She takes Scott's other side, "We still don't have gas."

"I'm not leaving him."

"Then we have to leave the car."

"Sounds good."

"What?" Lydia stops, "That wasn't an actual suggestion. Allison, wait. Ah. Screw it."

* * *

_Scott, Rayne and Isaac walk into the main area of the mall, Deucalion stands halfway up a set of escalators._

"_You two didn't come alone."_

"_Yeah. This is Isaac."_

"_I'm not talking about Isaac."_

_The three of them look to their left, Derek steps out of the shadows fully shifted, behind him Cora and Boyd stand in the shadows._

"_You knew I would do this?" Scott says to Derek as he approaches them. "Derek, don't. You can't do this so one gets hurt. If someone else dies—"_

"_Him," Derek points to Deucalion, "Just Him."_

"_Just me? Now, how's a blind man find his way into a place like this all on his own."_

_From Derek's left, sliding down the column by her claws, is Kali. From the escalators behind Scott, Rayne and Isaac comes Ennis. Then from up above them, on a ledge to the right come the twins._

* * *

"Stiles, what's happening?" Scott asks as they approach a loud commotion.

"They went after him. Ethan said something to them and he just went after him."

"Who, Boyd?" Scott says hurrying to the circle of people.

In the middle of the circle Isaac has Ethan on the ground, pummeling his face with right hands. Coach can be heard yelling over the crowd, "Isaac, Isaac, Isaac!" But its no use, the teen doesn't stop. The Coach and the driver try to pull Isaac off, "Back off! Stop." He shakes them off easily.

"Isaac!" Scott yells and Isaac instantly stops. Everybody stares, as Danny tends to Ethan, Isaac stands up looking to see that Scott's okay.

* * *

Back in Beacon Hills, Cora and Peter are outside of the Vet's office.

"An animal clinic?" Cora asks looking around.

"It's not as ordinary as it looks. The building's half made out of mountain ash. I'm not actually sure how to get in."

Cora rolls her eyes, "Well, maybe we could do what normal people do and knock on the door."

She turns to walk inside, Peter grabs her arm stopping her. "They're here."

"Who?" She asks.

"All of them."

"How do we know who's in there? Is it Derek or Ennis or both?"

The door opens and out walk Kali and Aiden, he holds onto the she-wolf's wrists as she lets out a roar that sets off car alarms.

Peter turns to his Niece, "Well, we know one thing— that wasn't for Derek." He takes Cora's hand leading them away before they're found.

* * *

_The wolves all stand facing one another, everyone waiting to see who makes the first move. That move is made by Derek who growls, charging Deucalion. Kali cuts him off, kicking him in the chest and knocking him back._

_The twins leap down from the second story, transforming into the giant wolf as they touch the ground._

_Derek is battling Kali, while Boyd and Cora are dealing with Ennis. Isaac takes a long look at Scott and Rayne before he shifts charging the giant, who easily swats him to the ground._

_The siblings roll their eyes, "So much for not fighting." Rayne says as she and Scott shift, charging the giant who picks them both up and throws them into the concrete wall behind him. The siblings leave a giant hole in the wall where their bodies hit._

_Cora is knocked down with a slash to her back from Ennis. Kali tosses Derek away from her and gives Boyd a spinning kick to the chest, slicing him open as he's being held by Ennis._

_The giant slices Scott across his left torso, and Rayne across her chest, before grabbing Isaac and dragging him over towards his friends. Kali has her foot on Cora's throat, pinning her to the floor. Ennis has Rayne by her hair on her knees. And the giant has both Isaac and Scott by the necks._

"_Kill him." Deucalion says to Derek._

_Derek looks down at Boyd, as Deucalion descends the stairs. "You're beaten. Do it, Derek. Take the first step."_

"_Are we serious with this kid?" Kali asks incredulously. "Look at him. He's an Alpha? To what? A couple of useless teenagers?"_

"_Some have more promise than others."_

"_Let him rise to the occasion then. What'll it be, Derek? Pack or family?"_

_Derek looks around at his pack members, his family. The look on his face tells him he's not sure what to do. Before he can make one however, an arrow sings through the air exploding in light on the giant, which separates it into the twins again. Kali screams shielding her eyes, as another explodes near her. One after another bolts of light explode around them. _

_Deucalion kneels down to avoid the arrows, "Your eyes! Cover your eyes!"_

* * *

_Allison is speaking to her father earlier that night, "Someone needs to help them."_

"_Not us. I'm getting the consulting business back up and running, and you need to graduate. That's a normal life, and it's what we agreed to."_

"_So, we just ignore it?"_

"_We stay out of it."_

"_There's a pack of Alphas that's trying to kill my friends. How do I stay out of that?"_

"_There's a saying for these kind of situations, the kinds you have to navigate carefully. It's called, "threading the needle." It's finding a safe path between two opposing forces."_

"_Sounds like saving your own ass."_

"_They're not your family."_

"_With all the family that I've lost, I could use a few friends."_

"_Allison."_

* * *

_Rayne and Scott look up above Deucalion to find that the archer helping them, is in fact Allison. Scott, Rayne and Isaac jump up ready for the second round. Derek picks up Boyd, placing his arm around Cora's neck, "Take him."_

_Scott growls charging Ennis, the sound of them clashing chests is almost like thunder. Everyone watches in disbelief as Scott shoves Ennis, throwing him backwards. Deucalion stares at Scott._

_Scott slides back a few feet, crouching, as he lifts his head Rayne sees his eyes are red, Alpha red. Allison stands overhead still watching, not sure why she just saw Scott's eyes red. Scott shakes his head and his eyes return to normal._

_Ennis has been so distracted by Scott that he forgets about Derek, who comes from behind shoving him. Ennis turns around, dodging three swipes from Derek before slashing him across the chest and sending him rolling across the floor. Derek stands back up, leaping into the air he punches Ennis. The two of them grab one another's shoulders, struggling to bring the other down, both standing on the edge of the floor._

_Scott and Rayne, both holding their wounds scramble across the floor trying to reach Derek to help. Scott comes from the right slashing at Ennis's leg, the Alpha yelling out in pain. The two of them fall backwards._

_Rayne cries out, reaching for Derek as she and Scott lean over the edge watching him plummet to the floor below. The sound of his body slamming into the escalator reverberates through Rayne's body. The tears flow with abandonment as she wills Derek to get up, open his eyes, make one tiny move so she knows he's alive. She trains her hearing, no heartbeat. _

* * *

After deciding it was better for the four teens to stay on the bus, safer for them to be away from Beacon Hills if only for a day, Rayne starts her drive back, determined to find Derek, alive or dead.

* * *

On the bus Stiles is sitting with Lydia, "All right. Lets go over this one more time. So it's the sacrifices, right? Everything has to do with them and someone who thinks he's, like, a dark druid of some kind."

"Or actually is a dark druid."

"A Darach."

"You know… Some ancient cultures sacrificed people in preparation for battle."

"So we got Alpha werewolves against a dark druid."

"Yeah."

In the seat behind them Allison is trying to help Scott let go. "You know, if he's really dead, it's not your fault."

"Maybe." Scott says staring at the floor, then he takes a breath and looks up to her. "But remember that whole thing that we talked about where I wasn't accusing you of being there, and if you were there you shouldn't be?"

She smiles, nodding. Scott scoffs, "Thanks for not listening."

Allison laughs, she stares at Scott, till he asks, "What?"

"I was just looking at your eyes." She says smiling as she leans her head on her arms.

* * *

Back in Beacon Hills, Jennifer Blake is just leaving the school, she has just closed her car door when a bloody hand slams on the glass of her window. She looks up into Derek's face, before he collapses to the ground.


	6. Heartbeat

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Wolf or anything related to it. I only own my original character Rayne and anything else that seems out of place.**

I want to say a big thank you to those that have reviewed this story so far. It means so much to me.

**Marine76 - yes Frayed was a sad chapter but I hope this one makes up for the hurt :)**

**Warning lemons!** So this chapter has some heavy smut, nothing too graphic, but if that's not your thing then please don't read. With that being said on to the next chapter.

xoxo Tiearney

* * *

Rayne receives a text a couple hours later from her brother, letting her know they stopped at a hotel for the night.

'_How are you doing?'_

'_I'm fine. I'm almost back home.'_

'_Rayne, please. Allison told me what you said about not letting yourself heal. Please, for me, forgive yourself. I don't wanna lose you.'_

'_I'm not going anywhere Scoot.'_

'_Promise me.'_

'_I promise.'_

'_K. I'll call you tomorrow. Love you.'_

'_Okay. Love you too.'_

* * *

Back in Beacon Hills it's night, Jennifer has managed to help Derek to his loft. She opens the door, "Oh, God. This is a bad, very bad idea. I should be taking you to a hospital."

"No, no hospital."

"Derek, I can't— I can't hold you anymore. I'm losing you." He collapses to the floor, "Derek?" She whispers to him, "Derek? Derek."

Jennifer helps him onto the bed, she can hear him mumbling over and over. "Rayne. Where's Rayne?" She grabs his phone, not wanting to call her but it occurs to Jennifer she can use this to her advantage later. She scrolls through his contacts until she finds Rayne's number.

* * *

Inside the abandoned mall Chris Argent is looking around, seeing the fight with his own eyes. The battles, claw marks on the floor, the shattered wall. He finds evidence that Allison was there, but when he speaks to her about it, she tells him nothing.

* * *

Back at the hotel, several of the students are starting to act very strange, primarily Scott, Boyd, Isaac and Ethan. Lydia finds out there have been 198 suicides at that hotel.

* * *

Rayne has just reached the city limits when her phone rings, she picks it up and almost faints when she sees DEREK flash on the screen. She quickly pulls over not trusting herself to drive at the moment. She picks the phone up with shaky hands and answers the call.

"Derek?" She says her voice shaking.

"This is Jennifer Blake, the teacher. I met you a few days ago."

"I remember. Why do you have Derek's phone?"

"Um, well, he stumbled up to me in the parking lot of the school. He's really bad, I think he's dying and I don't know what to do. He keeps asking for you."

Rayne's heart leaps knowing he's alive, and that he's asking for her. "Okay, where are you?"

"Derek's loft."

"Okay, I'm on my way, I should be there within twenty minutes."

"All right. Bye."

"Bye."

Rayne hangs up the phone, pulling back onto the road and driving as fast as she could towards the loft. Just as she told Jennifer, within twenty minutes she was pulling into the downstairs parking area. Rayne hopped down out of the truck, stumbling slightly, she grabbed the door to steady herself. After a moment Rayne shut the door and made her way up to the top floor. She yanked open the steel door, wincing as her wounds pulled open and started to bleed again.

Jennifer stood from the bed coming over to her at the door. "Oh, my God. Are you okay Rayne?"

"I'm fine. It'll heal. Where is he?"

"Over there on the bed." Jennifer watches Rayne's face as her eyes fall on Derek's prone body. "Well, I'm gonna go, please call me if you need anything."

"I will. Thank you for finding him and taking care of him."

Jennifer nods then takes her leave, she pauses at the door, watching Rayne approach Derek, brushing his hair back tenderly. She gives a sinister grin as she leaves shutting the door behind her.

* * *

Derek feels someone running their fingers through his hair, he opens his eyes, his vision cloudy. "Rayne?" His voice his weak and raspy.

"Yeah, baby. It's me. I'm here."

He takes her hand in his, "I'm so— sorry. I—"

"Derek, it's okay. Shh. Derek I'm so sorry. I should've helped you, I should've done something."

"Rayne, there was nothing you could have done. If you'd have tried to help, you'd have went down with me." He takes her face in his hands, "It wasn't your fault."

She smiles at him, that was what she needed to hear and within seconds she could feel her body start to heal itself. He starts to lay back when he catches sight of her chest and tries to sit up, "You're hurt." She pushes him back down, "No. No, I'm fine. It's healing now."

He lets go of her hand as she lifts up the bottom of his t-shirt, exposing his chest and torso. He hears her exhale slowly whispering, "Oh, my God."

"How bad?" He says looking to her from under heavy lidded eyes.

She gives a weak smile, "It's fine. To be honest, the "Oh, My God" would be for your unbelievable physique if it weren't for the fact that you're bleeding black blood."

He grunts lifting his head up and setting it back down, his eyes drifting shut. Rayne notices he has gone silent, her eyes snap up to his face. "Derek? Derek! Oh please, don't do this to me. Don't you leave me! Derek!"

Rayne leans her head down to his chest, she doesn't hear his heartbeat. She panics momentarily, then wills herself to calm down. She remembers something Talia said to her about mates, even though they weren't, her love for him could save him, she decide it was worth a try. She takes both his hands in hers holding them up to her heart.

"We are one. My heart is yours, your heart is mine. Let my heart beat for you. Pace it with mine."

Within minutes his heartbeat is a welcome sound for her. She sighs whispering, "Thank you Talia." She lays down on his body not caring about his blood seeping into her clothing, "Not exactly how I imagined our first real date."

* * *

Rayne stands in front of the window, watching the rain fall, exactly what it looked like the night Derek gave her the necklace. She reached down rubbing the heart, closing her eyes and praying. She hears Derek groan and pant, turning she finds him sitting up on the edge of the bed. He tries to push himself up, she doesn't move just yet, only asks him, "Are you sure you wanna do that?"

He sits back down as a wave of dizziness hits him, "I have to find the others. They think I'm dead."

"They're fine. All of them. Maybe right now, that's a good thing. You know how many characters in literature use a false death to their advantage? You ever read _Les Mis_? _Tale of Two Cities? Romeo and Juliet?_"

"English nerd." Derek says smiling.

"Dumb Jock." Rayne retaliates smiling back.

Derek's smile fades, "They need to know."

"I know Derek. But do you have any idea how bad you look?" He looks up at her. "You're like one giant open wound. I'm not entirely sure you aren't really dead."

"Have you looked in the mirror?"

"Touché." She smiled.

* * *

After looking around for several minutes, Rayne comes back to Derek, "You don't have any bandages or any kind of first aid anywhere. I looked."

"I usually don't need them. Remember."

"So now we wait."

Derek gives her a sideways glance, "You shouldn't be here."

"Why's that?"

"Because I almost got you killed. I don't deserve you Rayne."

"Maybe not. But I have a feeling about you, I always have."

"It shouldn't be a good one." He stares at the gashes on her chest, "Everyone around me— everyone gets hurt."

"I've been hurt before."

"Not like this."

Rayne raises to her knees, touching her forehead to his, she hesitantly kisses his lips. Pulling back Rayne trembles, this time Derek leans forward capturing her lips with his own. They pull back after a moment only for Derek to pull her in close again, his hands on her arms, her hand on his cheek. The two wolves kiss roughly, but instead of a fight for dominance like Derek always said would happen, Rayne backs down, giving control to Derek.

Rayne sets down on the edge of the bed next to Derek, he slowly removes her tank top, careful not to irritate her wounds any further. He gently pushes her down on the bed, laying next to her. He unbuttons and unzips her jeans, taking them off her legs and dropping them to the floor. As his eyes move up her body towards her face, something on the lower left of her abdomen, right next to her hip bone causes him to stop.

"How long have you had that?"

Rayne smirked knowing he had found the small tattoo of his Triskele on her hip. "A long time."

He traced it with his fingers, "And how did I not know about it till now?"

"I don't know, I guess maybe you just weren't meant to until now."

"Why would you do that? Why mark yourself with my pack mark?"

"Because I've always been yours. You've had my heart since we were kids."

Derek looked at her, admiration, elation and dare she say it, love, were shining in his green eyes. He glanced down at the tattoo again, then back up to her eyes. A look came over his face like he had made some decision she didn't know about. "I love you Rayne."

Tears instantly welled in her eyes as her heart caught in her throat. She whispered, "I love you too."

He tensed, briefly, then moved her, quickly, so she was facing him, seated comfortably in his lap. He grasped her chin with his fingers, and stared, intensely, into her eyes; his pupils dilated and a small smile planted firmly onto his lips. Immediately, she glanced away, unable to keep staring into his passionate gaze, and he snarled, loudly, as she did as well. He reiterated, "Say that again, louder."

Rayne smiled, "I love you, Derek."

There was a brief pause in the atmosphere, and she felt her stomach tighten, exponentially. It all happened too fast, and she couldn't tell you who came forth first, but good God, was she glad for it. Their lips met in a heated, passionate embrace, and he rumbled, forcefully, while, simultaneously, spinning them so he was lying atop her body again.

"Say it," he sighed, feverishly, his eyes that beautiful, fiery red. Rayne paused to catch her breath, and felt him nibble across the length of her collarbone, just like he knew she liked. Rayne breathed, "I love you, Derek."

He tensed, then glanced up at her, his eyes no longer the green that she adored, but the blistering red that she loved, that seemed to stare directly into her soul. His voice was heavy and distorted, almost like he was growling, whilst speaking, concurrently, and ordered, "Say it again."

As they kissed, Rayne moaned, "I love you," over and over again, so many times that the words became one, and she stopped making sense. He didn't seem to care, as he licked, bit, sucked and kissed all along her exposed torso, she arched her back off of the bed, loving the scratching of his stubble rub across her bare skin. He roared, loudly, making her shudder with pleasure, and said, factually, "If you don't stop making those noises, I'm going to wreck you, Rayne."

Almost as if he were trying to push home his point, he rolled his hips, in that way that had her eyes rolling into the back of her head, and a silent groan falling from her 'o'-shaped lips. He grinned, wolfishly, down at her, and she grasped the back of his neck, tightly, in her warm hands, and joined their lips once more.

Derek pulled back from her, again he looked down at his pack mark on her skin, then back to her eyes. Finally after what seemed like hours, he spoke. "Rayne. I want you, in every way possible. I want— Can I?" He parted his lips letting his fangs show, Rayne knew immediately what he wanted and she didn't hesitate, "Yes, Derek. It would be my honor."

With a look like he had just been given the secret to life, Derek smiled, a real smile, one he only reserved for her. Kissing his way down her body, Rayne was nearly whimpering with each press of his lips, by the time he reached her abdomen her body was on fire. He hovered over her tattoo, then suddenly— a sweet but brutal pain broke into her consciousness.

Derek had bit her— and bit her hard.

She held on to the sheets, her claws tearing holes in them, her body arching up to his mouth. The groan she gave was damn near animalistic and suddenly the stars in her eyes exploded into darkness. With surprise, she realized she had climaxed. Oh God— he had sunk his teeth into her and instead of being hurt or completely in pain, she had had an instant orgasm.

After the euphoria had subsided, she weakly gazed down at the man who was now her mate. Derek was licking at the blood around the wound and that was helping the pain that was suddenly seeping in. He pulled himself up beside her, kissing her lips gently. They lay together, Rayne subconsciously fingering the bite mark over her tattoo. She now belonged to Derek, forever, and that thought was the only one that existed in her mind.

* * *

After that Rayne allowed Derek to take her again and again, not realizing at that exact moment, her brother was covered in gasoline, standing in a pool of it with a lit flare in his hand.

"There's no hope."

"What are you talking about, there's always hope." Allison tells him.

"Not for me. Not for Derek."

"Derek wasn't your fault." Allison tells him, "You know Derek wasn't your fault."

"Every time I try to fight back, it just gets worse. People keep getting hurt. People keep getting killed."

Stiles steps forward, "Scott, listen to me, okay? This isn't you, all right? This is someone inside your head telling you to do this. Okay? Now—"

"What if it isn't? What if it is just me? What if doing this is actually the best thing that I could do for everyone else?" Scott says crying.

* * *

Derek is sitting on the edge of the bed, Rayne crawls up behind him, laying her left hand on his shoulder. He turns his head back capturing her lips with his own. As they continue to kiss, Derek's wounds heal and disappear, along with Rayne's.

* * *

"It all started that night, the night I got bitten. You remember the way it was before that? You and me, we were— we were nothing. We weren't popular. We weren't good at lacrosse." Scott is shivering as he speaks, his body trembling. "We weren't important. We were no one. Maybe I should just be no one again. No one at all."

Stiles has tears falling down his face, "Scott, just listen to me, okay? You're not no one. Okay? You're someone, you're— Scott, you're my best friend. Okay? And I need you. Scott, you're my brother. All right, so…"

Stiles steps into the pool of gasoline, standing face to face with Scott. "So if you're gonna do this, then…"

He grabs the top of the flare above Scott hand. "I think you're just gonna have to take me with you then."

Scott starts sobbing as he stares at Stiles, who eases the flare from his hand and throws it away. The two boys stand there staring at one another, while Lydia sees a gust of wind blow the still lit flare into the gasoline.

"No!" Lydia pushes the two boys out of the way as a ball of fire erupts behind them, Allison runs over to their side as they all fall to the ground shielding themselves. Lydia looks back into the wall of fire seeing a creature inside the flames.

* * *

The next morning, Coach and the other students get onto the bus to find Scott, Stiles, Isaac, Boyd, Lydia and Allison sleeping on the bus. "I don't want to know." Coach says looking at them. "I really don't want to know, but in case you missed the announcement, the meet's cancelled, so we're heading home. Pack it in. Pack it in!"

Ethan sits down next to Scott, earning a surprised look from him and Stiles who is sitting in the seat behind them. "I don't know what happened last night, but I'm pretty sure you saved my life."

"Actually, I saved your life, but not that it matters that much." Stiles tells him. "It's just— it's a minor detail."

"So I'm gonna give you something." Ethan continues, "We're pretty sure Derek's still alive." The shock is evident all over Scott's face, as Ethan goes on. "But he killed one of ours. That means one of two things can happen. Either he joins our pack…"

"And kills his own." Scott finishes.

"Or Kali goes after him, and we kill him. That's the way it works."

"You know, your little code of ethics there is sort of barbaric, just F.Y.I. I don't know if you—" Stiles says as Ethan gets up, going back to sit with Danny.

Stiles moves up to sit with Scott as Coach boards the bus, Lydia eyes his whistle as he walks down the aisle towards her. "Hey, Ethan, I wanted to—"

"Coach, can I see your whistle for a second?" She says taking it off his neck.

"What's that? Hey Et— I'm gonna need that back." Coach goes back to speak to Ethan.

Lydia sits down in the seat across from Scott and Stiles, while Allison watches from the seat behind her. Lydia holds the whistle up, covering it with her hand she blows into it. No sound comes out. She pulls her hand away, on her palm is a purple powder, "Wolfsbane," she tells them holding her hand up.

"So every time the Coach blew the whistle on the bus, Scott, Isaac, Boyd—" Stiles says.

"And Ethan." Lydia reminds them.

Scott catches on, "We all inhaled it."

"You were all poisoned by it." Allison says.

"So that's how the Darach got in their heads." Stiles concludes. "That's how he did it." Quickly Stiles grabs the whistle from Lydia, leaning over Scott who ducks, Stiles opens the window and throws the whistle out.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey! Stilinski!" Coach yells as the bus pulls out onto the road.


	7. Currents

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Wolf or anything related to it. I only own my original character Rayne and anything else that seems out of place.**

I want to say a big thank you to those that have reviewed this story so far. It means so much to me.

**Marine76 - I'm so glad you liked the last chapter :)**

**Warning lemons!** So this chapter has some heavy smut, nothing too graphic, but if that's not your thing then please don't read. With that being said on to the next chapter.

xoxo Tiearney

* * *

After the events of the last few days, Derek finally convinced Rayne to let the pack know he was alive and healed. They were positive the Alphas knew Derek was alive and they'd be coming for him, so the more help he had the better off he was.

Derek and Rayne had been inseparable since they had mated, and the pack could not have been happier for them. After some research by Rayne they found out that the reason the two had healed was the new bond that was created between them. The only downfall was they could now feel what the other felt, so when one of them was hurt, their mate felt it ten fold.

* * *

The night after everyone was told Derek was still alive, Rayne and Scott went to the hospital to bring their mom dinner. They walk through the doors, Scott holding up the food for her to see. The entire waiting room and down the majority of the halls were packed, people bloody and bruised sat wherever there was an open space.

"Oh, thank God." She says walking towards them and taking the food. "I'm starving." She takes the bag of food, setting it on the counter behind her. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Thank you for bringing me dinner." She gives them each a hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Is everything okay?" Scott asks her.

"Except for half the accident victims in a ten car pile-up being rerouted here from downtown, and the E.R. attending not answering any of his pages, yeah, I'm okay."

"What does not answering pages mean?" Rayne asks her mom.

"It means that nobody can find him, so now we have to wait for the on call to get here."

A woman in severe pain approaches Melissa, "Miss."

"Yes." Melissa turns towards the woman.

"Excuse me, can I kind of please have something for the pain?"

"Ok, I'm sorry. I know. But, actually giving you something could complicate things." Melissa gives her kids a smile and leads the woman over to a seat. "So we really just need to wait for the doctors. Okay?"

"Yeah," the woman says.

"Okay. How much longer on Dr. Hilyard?" Melissa asks the woman behind the reception desk.

"Ten minutes."

Scott and Rayne share a look before sitting down on each side of the woman, Scott smiles to her, "Uh, you know, I think I read online that sometimes human contact can help with pain."

The woman nods, whimpering as Scott and Rayne lay their hands on each of hers that are resting in her lap. Within seconds the woman stops crying, she looks between the two siblings, giving them a smile.

Suddenly a man yelling catches the siblings attention, "Someone… Someone help me!" They turn to see Ethan carrying Danny in, he's in serious pain and looks like he can't breath. Ethan yells out, "Oh, I need help!"

Scott runs over taking Danny from Ethan as Rayne grabs his other side, supporting him they carry him to an empty seat, their mom directing them, "Okay, gentle, gentle, gentle!"

Danny screams as they lower him into the seat. Behind Rayne, her brother grabs Ethan, "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing. He said he was having chest pains and trouble breathing, but it just kept getting worse."

"This is not good," Melissa says feeling Danny's throat. "How much longer on Dr. Hilyard?"

The receptionist shakes her head, Melissa turns back to Danny, "His larynx has shifted to the side. I think it's a tension pneumothorax."

Suddenly Danny leans forward, vomiting on the ground, he falls forward onto his hands and knees. The three wolves stare at the liquid on the ground, Ethan speaks what they're all thinking, "Mistletoe."

Melissa and another nurse, load Danny onto a stretcher. They wheel him into an empty space in a room, she turns to the three wolves, "Can you three please go back to the waiting room?"

"Where are the nurses and the doctors? Where is everyone?" Ethen asks standing next to Danny's left side with Scott.

"It's a full house tonight. They're tending to other patients."

Scott looks at her and his sister standing on Danny's right side, "Okay, well, mom, how can we help?"

"Honey, you can't, his lung is collapsed. His heart is being pushed against his chest cavity."

"He's gonna die, isn't he?" Scott says, a terrified tone taking over his normally calm voice.

Melissa looks at her kids, then towards the door, "No. No, he's not. Scott, you grab the tape." She turns to Ethan, "You grab those scissors and cut his shirt open."

Rayne opens the drawer behind her mother, grabbing a long needle with a syringe attached, she hands it to her mom. Scott eyes her wondering how she knew what she needed and she shrugs, "I spent a lot of time watching mom work."

Ethan rips Danny's shirt open as he lifts his head up, gasping for air. Melissa sets her hands on his chest, "Okay."

Scott looks down at Danny, panicking, "Mom, he's not breathing."

"I know. I know. Okay." She feels around up by his right shoulder, then jams the needle down into his body. She opens the valve on the top, air can be heard releasing. She then draws the syringe on top, upwards, Danny inhales and exhales. Melissa unscrews the syringe from the top pulling it out, the needle attached to the end. They stand tense for several seconds until all at once, Danny opens his eyes, looking at Melissa, "Thank you."

She smiles back, as they all let out a breath, "No problem."

Melissa notices the stunned looks on the three faces surrounding her, "What?"

"That was awesome." Scott tells her, Rayne nodding in agreement.

She laughs, her voice slightly shaking, "It was no problem, you know? I mean, it wasn't a big deal."

* * *

Scott and Rayne leave shortly after that, out in the parking lot Ethan approaches them, holding his hands up in surrender. "I know you're not gonna believe me, but I didn't do anything."

"All I know is that the minute that you got here, you went right for Danny, and your brother went for Lydia."

"We're not gonna hurt him."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Because we knew one of them was gonna be important to you, and now we know it's Lydia."

Both Scott and Rayne look behind Ethan as a car comes into the parking lot. The driver is swerving back and forth narrowly missing cars. Suddenly it smashes into another car coming to a stop, the three of them run over to the car. Scott opens the door to find— nothing. The car is empty inside. Except for something Scott spies on the seat. He picks it up as Ethan looks over his shoulder, "What is it?"

It's a moth.

* * *

Shortly after, outside in the parking lot of the hospital, Rayne, Scott, Stiles and Melissa are speaking to the Sheriff.

"Two missing—" Stiles says.

"Hang on, hang on. They were both in the car?" The Sheriff asks.

"No, dad, they're trying to tell you that it was two separate kidnappings, okay? Two doctors, both gone."

"So whose car is this?"

"Dr. Hilyard, the on call doctor." Melissa tells him. "The E.R. attending is the one that never made it in."

The Sheriff turns to Melissa, "Let me just focus on getting your story first, all right?"

"Yeah."

"Boys, Rayne, give us a second."

The three nod walking about 20 yards away, Scott speaks first, "These are definitely sacrifices, right?"

Stiles nods, "Yeah, it's one Deaton mentioned: healers."

"What about Danny? He threw up mistletoe." Rayne tells Stiles. "That's not a coincidence. If he hadn't been with Ethan, he probably would've died. Danny's not a healer."

"I…" Stiles starts to say something but then his attention turns to his father, who is on his cell phone. "Can you hear that?" Stiles says pointing to his dad.

Scott turns around as the siblings listen in, Scott turns back, "They found a body."

* * *

Rayne heads back to the loft, she needed to tell Derek what they found out. Sleep that night evaded the she-wolf and the next morning dawned with new problems. It seemed that no sooner than she had told Derek what was going on, the alarm started blaring. Derek jumped up off the bed where he was sitting with Rayne, he pushed the button to stop the alarm. Rayne got up off the bed coming to stand at his side along with Cora, the three of them eyeing one another.

"What does it mean?" Cora asks looking to the window.

Derek and Rayne look, seeing the same symbol that was etched into the Hale house door 4 months ago, painted on the glass. Derek approaches it cautiously, his face tightening, "It means they're coming… Tonight."

* * *

Rayne leaves for a short time, going to her house to check on things and pick up a few supplies. She happens to open her mom's bedroom door to check on her. What she finds makes her laugh, and she has to bite the inside of her cheek in order to stay quiet.

Her mom is laying in bed, nothing unusual there. She watches as she wakes up, catching sight of something in the corner, Melissa gasps, then sighs. "Really, boys?"

Scott is sitting in the chair in the corner of the room and Isaac is on the floor his upper body resting on the ottoman. Both of them are passed out.

Melissa looks to her daughter in the doorway, giving her a scowl as she sees her trying not to laugh. Melissa sits up in bed, "Boys!"

Scott and Isaac both quickly jump up to their feet, surprised looks on their faces.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Uh, we were watching over you." Isaac says looking to Scott.

"We wanted to make sure you weren't the third sacrifice."

Melissa knits her eyebrows, "But both of you were asleep."

Scott turns to Isaac, "You were on watch last."

"What are you taking about? You were on watch last."

"No, you were on watch last."

"I might've been on watch last." Isaac admits looking to Melissa. Rayne by this time is leaning against the wall dying in laughter.

Melissa laughs, "My heroes. Wait, didn't you say that they were all doctors? I mean, I haven't had an M.D. recently attached to the end of my name, so I think I'm in the clear."

"Yeah, but it could just come under any kind of healer, mom, and you were definitely a healer last night."

"Yeah, well, I'm not gonna be anyone's human sacrifice today, so both of you get your butts to school."

* * *

Back at the loft Rayne is laying on the couch writing in her notebook, when the door opens revealing Boyd and Isaac. The two Betas spot her and give her a smile, which she returns with a smile and a wink.

"Go back to school." Derek's voice his heard throughout the loft.

"Well, actually, we can't." Isaac says back. "Boyd and I are incredibly and unbelievably sick."

"With what, brain damage?" Derek says from his sitting place half way up the staircase.

Isaac laughs, "Well, I have a migraine, and, uh, Boyd here has explosive diarrhea."

Rayne smiles, shaking her head along with Boyd as he explains, "We're here to protect you."

Derek stands up walking down the stairs, "You're here to protect me? Well, I'm in trouble then."

"Actually, Boyd here came up with a plan."

"Yeah, I thought about the time Gerard had me and Erica locked up." He bent down setting his bag on the floor, noticing the growl that came from Rayne. He then opened the bag, "Tied up with electrical wires pushing current through us. I was wondering how we could do something like that…"

He pulls a giant coil of wire out of the bag, "But on a bigger scale."

The four of them take Derek's bed and the couch, moving them to the room behind the couch, shutting the door behind them. Boyd grabs a hose and turns on the water, covering the floor, "In a pool of electrified water, it can take up to 50 milliamps to kill a normal human, less than the power it takes to turn on a light bulb."

"That's comforting," Derek says looking between Rayne and Isaac.

"If we disable the circuit interrupter in the building's electrical room, the current will keep coming, and anyone who steps foot in here, they'll get a pretty shocking surprise."

"Especially someone who's barefoot." Rayne says smirking.

* * *

Afterwards Rayne gets a phone call from Scott saying that Deaton has been taken. Also that he was visited by Deucalion and was told someone would die tonight, and it's between Derek and Deaton. Derek orders Rayne to go out and help her brother, which normally she would've protested to but now that they were mates, Rayne seemed to do everything he asked of her, even if she didn't want to.

* * *

After Rayne left, the two Betas and Alpha stand on the upper floor, behind the broken wall. Derek watches as Boyd drops the wire in the water. The waters crackle as it is electrified by the current pulsing through it.

"Is this gonna kill him?" Isaac asks looking down at the water.

"I hope so."

Boyd and Isaac sit on two of the small platforms behind the broken wall, watching the alarm light waiting for it to go off signaling the arrival of the Alphas, Derek stands behind Isaac.

"Isn't the light on that supposed to be on?" Isaac asks pointing to the alarm.

Derek scowls, "Yeah."

"What does it mean if it's not?"

"Someone cut the auxiliary power," Derek says.

"What about the main—" Boyd starts to say as the entire room goes black, both Betas shoot quickly to their feet.

Derek slowly walks out into the water, he stops, standing in front of the window and facing the door.

"Derek…" Isaac calls to him, his voice wary. "What do we do now?"

Derek looks up at the door, his eyes turning that fiery red that Rayne loves, as he tells them, "We fight."

The sound of the lock clanking precedes the creak as the door opens, Derek's anger radiating through the room as Isaac and Boyd come to stand beside their Alpha.

Kali stands in the open doorway her claws flicking out, "Gonna be honest, Derek. When Ennis died, I thought to myself I'd just go for it. Find you and kill you, wherever you stood."

Derek stands now fully shifted, facing the angry she-wolf.

"Then I remembered how you surround yourself with these teenagers, hiding behind them, and I thought, "What's a girl got to do to get you alone?"

Kali looks back to the doorway, Ethan and Aiden appear— holding Rayne between them, Ethan's claws on her throat prepared to rip it out. Rayne gives him a sorrowful look, she's sorry she put him in this position.

"You and me Derek, or they tear her apart. What do you say? You think you can beat me one on one?"

Derek nods his head to the two Betas, who move off to the side. "I'm gonna rip your throat out, with my teeth."

The two Alphas growl, Derek leaps from the ground, coming down in front of Kali slashing at her chest. The fight rages on, Rayne burning with anger, trying to reach her mate. Derek slashes for Kali's torso, missing she slashes for him, missing, the two trade places trading swipes.

Rayne struggles against the twins, but the two of them are stronger. Kali slashes Derek on the chest, Rayne screams, his pain filling her body. Kali knocks Derek down, he lands face first in the water. He pushed himself back up to his hands and knees, growling. Kali jumps down off the desk, landing she kicks Derek in the side, sending him flipping into the air, he lands in a crouch facing her.

"Derek!" Rayne screams, as the two Betas try to reach her. "No!" Derek yells to them, they pause watching their Alpha with the twins. "Wait," Isaac yells holding Boyd back.

Derek and Kali trade blows back and forth, until she knocks Derek onto his back. Kali picks Derek up, twisting his arms behind his back.

Isaac gets a text from Cora on his phone, 'Now!'

He runs out from behind the wall towards Rayne, he knocks the twins back grabbing Rayne and holding her tightly, as the water suddenly electrifies, Kali, Derek and Boyd caught in the current. Isaac holds tightly to his Alpha as she screams feeling the pain and electricity coursing through Derek's body.

"Take him!" Kali yells.

The twins run forward grabbing Derek by the arms, forcing his hands up, as he struggles against them. Kali takes hold of Boyd, lifting him into the air, she drops him down, impaling him on Derek's claws.

"No!" Rayne yells, tears instantly filling her eyes.

Boyd groans, as the twins let go of Derek's arms, Boyd sinks to the ground.

The twins and Kali walk to the door, "I'm giving you till the next full moon, Derek. Make the smart choice. Join the pack… Or next time I'm killing all of you."

The three Alphas walk out, Rayne immediately runs to Derek and Boyd. Her heart and body ache with Derek's pain as he tries to stop the blood flow on Boyd's chest wounds.

"It's okay," Boyd whispers, his eyes heavy.

"No, no. No, it's not. It's not." Derek says his voice panicky.

"It's all okay, Derek."

Derek looks into Boyd eyes, his voice stuttering, "I'm— I'm sorry."

"The full moon. That feeling… That was worth it."

Derek is helpless as the blood rushes between his fingers from Boyd's chest. Rayne places her hands over Derek's hoping that both of them can somehow stop the blood and save Boyd.

"Did you know it was a lunar eclipse. I always wondered what… What that felt like for one of us. For a werewolf."

_Boyd thinks back to the vault, with Erica as she asked him, "Boyd, what do you think will happen to us on the Lunar Eclipse? They last for hours, you know, because it's just the Earth's shadow. I wonder what will happen to us. Maybe it'll make us stronger. I hope it'll make us stronger." Erica says to Kali as she rises, her yellow eyes gleaming. She rushes Kali…_

Boyd falls from Derek's claws, Rayne cradles him to the ground, as Derek stares at his hands not knowing what to do.

_As she lies on the ground dying, Erica reaches out for him, "Boyd."_

Stiles and Cora rush through the doorway, Cora pushing past the boy running towards Boyd. Cora takes him from Rayne, cradling his head as the Alpha sits down her head in her hands.

Lydia rushes through the doorway, taking in the scene before her, Isaac sitting prone beside her.

Cora sobs, lying her head on Boyd's chest. Rayne crawls over sitting next to Derek, as Stiles lays a hand on Derek's shoulder. Derek's hands shake as Rayne takes hold of them, his lip quivers, tears building in his eyes.

* * *

After everyone had left, Rayne stood staring out of the window. Her heart and body ached, from her own pain, plus Derek's. Her eyes are bloodshot, her face stained with tears. She felt a hand come to rest of her shoulder, she knew who it was and shook him off.

"Rayne." His voice breaking with emotion.

"Don't." Her voice firm as steel.

Derek pleads, "Rayne, please. Don't do this."

"I can't. I can't do this." She turns to him, "Derek, they used me against you. I'm a weakness, and they know it. I will not let them use me to hurt you, I would rather die."

"And that wouldn't hurt me?" He says sharply.

"You'll get over it." She says emotionless. "Face it Derek, you were right all along. We, this, not a good idea. The longer I stay, the worse it'll get. At least if we part now, it'll get easier later on."

"You really believe that?" He asks her, suddenly angry, his arms crossed over his chest. "Because if we can feel one another's pain, like werewolf culture says, then I know your chest and throat are constricting, and your heart hurts, even at the thought of us being apart."

Rayne doesn't reply, she stares at the ground. "Look at me Rayne." She looks up meeting his intense green eyes burning into her blue. "You know what we were told about mates. Wolves mate for life. Once you mate, you never part. If one dies the other never finds another, and sometimes they go crazy, bloodthirsty. So if you can stand there, look me in the eye and tell me that you don't believe anything we were taught and the thought of being without me isn't killing you, I'll let you go."

Rayne closes her eyes, willing her heart to stay steady. She looks directly into Derek's eyes, "I can't." She walks past him to the open door, "But I can't watch you die. I can't watch anyone else die. First Erica, now Boyd. Whose next, Derek? Isaac? Your sister? My brother? What about Stiles? Or Lydia? Allison or Chris? You may say they mean nothing to you, but I know different. You care about them all, just like I do. And if protecting them, protecting you, means distancing myself from you, being cold and uncaring. Then that's what I'm gonna do. Deucalion needs to be stopped, and I won't stop until every last Alpha is dead."

Derek watches as the woman who went from his best friend to his mate, walks out and shuts the door behind her. Shortly after he hears a mournful howl, he knows it's meant for Boyd, but a part of him knows it's also for them.


	8. Visionary

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Wolf or anything related to it. I only own my original character Rayne and anything else that seems out of place.**

I want to say a big thank you to those that have reviewed this story so far. It means so much to me.

**Marine76 - Thank you again for the review I appreciate it :)**

xoxo Tiearney

* * *

_Rayne tugs on Derek's hand as they run through the woods, she can hear the hunters closing in on them. Suddenly Derek trips, they fall down a small embankment, landing on their stomachs at the bottom. A piercing sound meets their ears, they look up to find a stake with a pulsing blue light, emitting a sound that hurts their highly sensitive ears._

_They both stand up trying to out run the sounds, but to avail, as everywhere they turn they find another stake. The two of them see the hunters coming to their right, they take off towards the left desperate to get ahead of them. Suddenly another boy runs straight into Derek, the three pause staring at one another._

"_You're a Hale, aren't you?" The boy says looking between the two._

_All at once there is a singing sound, then an arrow pierces the boys neck in front of them. He falls forward, Rayne and Derek are met with the sight of a very large hunter with a crossbow pointed right at them._

_The hunter fires— Rayne catches the arrow just in front of Derek's face. Breathing heavily, she lowers the arrow at the same time Peter runs up, grabbing the two and ushering them away as the hunters advance on the body._

"_Is this the one?" The leader asks._

"_Killed two of ours. Find the others. Bring them back alive." He turns to each of the other hunters, "Alive. We go by the code."_

* * *

_In a small cellar at the base of a once great tree, roots penetrating into the ground below. Peter, Derek and Rayne sit huddled in a corner together. They hear the hunters above them, their flashlight beams sweeping the forest._

* * *

"They were there for two days, waiting, hiding. That's what were taught to do when the hunters find us— Hide and heal." Cora explains to Stiles.

"Okay, so is two days standard, then, or we thinking Derek's on, like, some extended getaway?"

"Why do you care?" Cora asks turning from the window to face him.

"Why do I care? Let's see— Because over the last few weeks, my best friend's tried to kill himself. His boss nearly got ritually sacrificed. A girl that I've known since I was three was ritually sacrificed. Boyd was killed by Alphas. I— You want me to keep going? Cause I can, all right? For, like, an hour."

"You think Derek can do anything about that?" She asks approaching him.

"Well, since he's the one everyone seems to be after, it's more like he should do something about it, yeah."

"I don't know. There's something different about him now. He wasn't like this when I knew him."

"What was he like?"

Peter walks down the staircase, pausing in the middle, "A lot like Scott, actually. A lot like most teenagers— unbearably romantic, profoundly narcissistic, tolerable really only to other teenagers."

"So what happened? What changed him?" Stiles asks as Peter approaches the desk.

"Well, the same thing that changes a lot of young men… A girl."

"You're telling me some girl broke his little heart? That's why Derek is the way he is?"

"Do you remember Derek before he was an Alpha had blue eyes?" Peter asks Cora. "Do you know why some wolves have blue eyes?"

Stiles shakes his head, "I just always thought it was, like, a genetic thing."

"If you want to know what changed Derek, you need to know what changed the color of his eyes."

The three turn as the door opens, Rayne steps into the room finding Peter, Cora and Stiles by the desk.

"Rayne. You're back." Cora smiles at her.

"Only for a moment." Rayne says softly. "I just need to pick up my things. Sorry to interrupt."

"Well, perhaps while you're here, you can give me a hand." Peter says with a grin Rayne doesn't notice.

"With what?" The Alpha says, her arms crossed over her chest.

"With the past. I'm enlightening these two on how Derek became the way he is now."

"You were there Peter, why do you need me?" Rayne answers tiredly.

"Because you were there for everything, the things I missed, you saw."

Rayne bites her lip, "Fine, lets it make it quick. Before he comes back."

* * *

Elsewhere in a motel, Gerard sits in his wheelchair, wiping the black blood from his nose and mouth. The door opens revealing Allison, Gerard looks up not turning around, "Did you bring him?"

He hears footsteps and turns the chair around. "Oh. Oh, come in, Scott." Gerard rolls up his sleeve, holding up his arm, "And give an old man a little something for his pain."

"You don't have to do this." Allison tells Scott.

"If you want me to talk, this is how it's going to happen." Gerard says.

Scott walks over pulling up his right jacket sleeve, "If I do this, you have to tell us everything you know. Everything."

The two grasp hands, Gerard inhales sharply, groaning. The pain travels in black waves up Scott's arm into his neck, causing his eyes to glow yellow.

* * *

_A beautiful brunette sits in the music room of Beacon Hills High School. She is playing the cello, a metronome keeping time for her. However every time she begins playing, a loud bouncing and indistinct shouting, keeps interrupting her. Finally after several minutes she's had enough, she sets her bow down and heads outside the room._

_Outside in the hallway six boys and one girl are playing basketball in the hallway._

"_Uh-oh. Uh-oh. What are you gonna do?" The girl asks a dark haired boy in front of her as she dribbles the ball._

"_Hey, do you guys mind?"_

_The six teens turn finding a girl standing in the hallway, the leader, the same black haired boy turns around to look at the girl._

"_I'm trying to practice." She tells them, a scowl on her face._

"_How do you know we're not trying to practice here too?" The leader asks her, the ball in his hands._

"_Yeah, well, see, I was practicing in the music room, and I'm pretty sure basketball practice takes place in the gym."_

"_Well, I'm pretty sure basketball practice takes place anywhere you got a basketball."_

_The guys and girl laugh, as the boy approaches the irritated girl, bouncing the basketball, showing off his moves._

_She rolls her eyes as he approaches, cockily telling her, "See?"_

_She turns to head back to the room, he stops her, "Wait. Hold on. Hold on. If you can get the ball from me… Maybe I'll stop."_

_The girl turns back to face him, "Come on. It'll be easy." He tells her bouncing the ball slowly in front of him. _

_She tries to grab it, but he's much faster. She watches as he dribbles the ball between his legs quickly, she sighs knowing she can't get it form him, so she just walks away._

_The boy stops, watching her leave. He turns to find the guys have left as well, only the girl remains. She nods her head to the door, giving him a small smirk, "Go."_

_The boy walks into the music room, he stand watching the girl play for a moment. "Sorry about that."_

_She pauses, looking over to find him standing in the doorway. "Whatever." She turns back to her playing._

"_Hey, what's your name?" He asks coming into the room._

"_I'm trying to practice, if you didn't notice."_

_He sets the ball down, "Okay. I'll just leave you alone, then…" She sighs thinking he's actually going to leave, but then— "After you tell me your name?"_

"_All right, I'll tell you my name if you can play one instrument in this room."_

"_One?"_

"_Just one."_

"_Any of 'em?"_

_She smirks turning back to her music, thinking she had beat the boy. He looks over the instruments on the shelves, finally selecting one. He hold sit behind his back as he walks back over next to her. He pulls a triangle out from behind his back, smirking as he chimes it. _

_The girls mouth drops open, she grins turning her face away from him. "My name's Paige. Now please go, so I can practice."_

"_My name's—"_

"_I know who you are."_

_The boy smirks as he puts the triangle back and walks back outside. The girl leaning against the wall, grins at him, "Smooth, Derek."_

"_Shut up, Rayne." He says grinning back._

* * *

Back it the hotel Gerard asks the two teens, "They found a third body?"

"Another doctor, right after Scott found Deaton." Allison tells him.

"Right after? Almost like it was expected he'd survive."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Scott asks the man.

"How do you know your dark druid isn't your wise Veterinarian himself? Maybe he knew you'd find him. Maybe he planned it that way."

"He would never let anyone innocent die." Scott says.

"Don't be so sure. You'd be surprised how far some people would go to get rid of someone like Deucalion."

"Or someone like you?" Allison quips.

Gerard chuckles, "I don't go easily, though, do I? You know, Scott, you've made me something of a celebrity here. I'm a medical mystery. The cancer is now virtually undetectable, but the doctors have no clue why my body keeps producing and ejecting this bizarre black fluid."

"I did what you wanted me to do. Tell us how to beat him."

"You can't. I've tried."

"Then this is a complete waste of time. He doesn't know anything. Sorry you did this. Let's go." Allison says walking towards the door.

"Wait. I can tell you one thing. Deucalion may have lost his eyes, but he's not always blind."

* * *

Back at the loft, Peter and Rayne are sitting on the couch, at opposite ends of course, Rayne sitting as far as possible from Peter.

"Okay, so if Derek was a sophomore back then, how old was he? How old were you two?" Stiles asks looking between Rayne and Peter.

"I'm the same age as Derek, you moron." Rayne says sighing.

Stiles turns his attention to Peter, "How old are you now?"

"Not as young as we could have been, but not as old as you might think."

"Okay, that was frustratingly vague." Stiles says looking to Cora, "How old are you?"

"I'm 17."

"See, that's an answer. That's how we answer people."

"I'm 17 in how you'd measure in years."

"All right, I'm just gonna drop it. What happened to Derek and the cello girl?"

"What do you think happened? They were teenagers. One minute, it's, "I hate you, don't talk to me." The next it's frantic groping in any dark corner they could manage to find themselves alone for five minutes. Their favorite dark corner was an abandoned distillery outside of Beacon Hills."

"All right, hold up." Stiles says. "How do you know all this? You just said that they were alone."

"Back then, I wasn't just Derek's Uncle. I was his best friend, his closest confidante. Next to Rayne, of course. That's how I know."

* * *

_The two teens stand in the distillery kissing, all at one Paige pulls away. "What?" Derek asks her concerned._

"_Why do you like me?"_

"_What's that supposed to mean?"_

"_Why do you like me?"_

"_Why do you think I like you?"_

"_Honestly, I think, at first, you liked me because I didn't like you."_

"_So now you're worried that now that I know you like me that I'm gonna stop liking you?"_

"_Not worried. Just wondering when."_

"_What if I never stop liking you?"_

_The two smile at one another, Derek pulls her close. Suddenly he hears a soft banging in the distance, he turns his head._

"_What?" Paige asks him. "Did you hear something?" Derek looks up at the ceiling, at a chain on a pulley. "What's wrong?" She asks._

"_Something happened here."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_I caught a scent. It's blood." He hears the soft banging again, he whips around, "All right, now I definitely heard something."_

"_Derek, I don't hear anything."_

"_We have to go. Come on. Let's go."_

_The two run out the back of the distillery, as 3 packs of werewolves enter through the front. Peter who was outside spying on the two lovers, moves to another spot where he will not be seen._

"_There." The tallest one, Ennis says, referring to the chain and rope on the pulley. "You see it? They dragged him here, an arrow in his throat, and they hung him and cut him in half. They killed one of ours."_

"_One of yours." The female Kali says stepping forward. "Why should I care about one of your pack?"_

_A small blonde from Ennis' pack steps forward, "Cause the hunters don't discern packs, especially the Argents."_

"_But they do discern motive. Ennis, why did they kill him?" Deucalion asks._

_One of Deucalion's Betas steps forward, "Because your young, naïve Beta killed one of them."_

"_Marco." Deucalion warns._

_Marco continues, "He killed a hunter, didn't he?"_

_Ennis steps up staring down the Beta, "Accidentally."_

* * *

Back at the hotel Gerard is explaining his side of the story, "They were all there— Ennis, Kali, Deucalion— Each with their own packs, before they'd killed them all and decided to form their little all-star team."

"But they didn't all live here, did they?" Allison asks.

"No, but there was an exceptionally powerful Alpha who did live here. She had a capacity to shape-shift that was rare among her kind. That made her something of a leader, the kind of person that they would go to for advice and guidance…"

* * *

_A distant howling is heard, the packs turn and stare out of the open door. Just inside the doorway stands Rayne, her head held high as she meets each of the Alpha's eyes, nodding her head to each of them in a show of respect._

_They knew she was the right hand of the shape-shifter, the one they all came to for help, so Rayne was not one to be messed with._

_The young girl bows her head as a black wolf pads out of the woods and into the distillery, stopping just inside the doors, its red eyes glowing. The packs watch as the wolf manifests into a beautiful woman. As she stands Rayne brings her a robe, wrapping her in it._

"Talia Hale," Gerard says.

_Rayne stands just behind and beside Talia, as she tries to calm the packs down. "It's his right. And we're not the only people to adhere to rituals thousands of years old."_

"_Which is no excuse for not evolving." Deucalion adds._

"_They ripped his claws right out of his fingers. How is that evolving? Useless debate. I'm done with it." Ennis says walking over to the thin metal wall next to the door, his claws out he sets them on the metal._

"_Ennis, don't." Deucalion warns. "Don't make us part of a historical cliché. With two such powers, it never ends at an eye for an eye. A skirmish becomes a war. A murder becomes a massacre. And we end up no better than our enemies."_

_Ennis doesn't listen as he tears into the wall with his claws, sparks flying. When he's finished a spiral is cut into the wall._

* * *

Peter draws a spiral on the inside of the window, in the condensation. "Our mark for vendetta."

"Man, you guys really take that revenge thing to, like, a whole new level, don't you?" Stiles quips.

"It's not just revenge." Cora says. "Losing a member of your pack isn't like losing family. It's like you lose a limb."

"They wouldn't even let him see the body."

* * *

_Stiles' father rushes into the hospital, "Somebody call for a—" He sees a giant man holding the nurse by the front of his shirt. "Whoa."_

"_I want his body. It belongs to me— Both halves."_

_Stiles dad reaches for his gun, "First off… You need to step back. I'm just a Deputy. I do what I'm told. And right now they're telling me there's a young man who was shot in the throat with an arrow and literally cut in half. This is a homicide investigation. Second, no matter how close you were… You're not related."_

"_He was family to me." Ennis says. _

* * *

"I don't get it. What does this have to do with Derek?" Cora asks Peter.

"Everything. It's never just a single moment. It's a confluence of events. Personally, I looked at Ennis' circumstances, I saw profound loss. Derek saw something different. He saw opportunity."

"Opportunity? To do what?" Stiles asks.

"To always be with her." Rayne says speaking for the first time since she sat down, causing the three to stare at her.

* * *

_Derek is in class, he smiles when he realizes he can hear Paige playing cello. Paige is sitting in the music room, she smiles as she feels eyes on her. "What are you staring at?"_

"_I'm not staring. I'm listening." Derek tells her. "Am I distracting you?"_

"_No. I've got laser-like focus."_

"_You sure about that?" Derek asks setting his bag down and approaching her._

_Paige begins playing again as Derek stands behind her, running his fingers down her arm, pulling the hair back off her left ear and gently running his lips along her earlobe._

_Paige realizes she has lost concentration, she smiles at Derek, "I hate you."_

"_No, you don't. You love me." He says sitting down next to her._

"_Hate you."_

_Derek face becomes very serious, "You love me."_

_Paige nods her head, Derek leans in and kisses her._

* * *

"The thing was, he had this constant fear. He was obsessing over it, thinking about it all night, all day, always on his mind."

_Derek and Rayne are sitting at a picnic table outside, facing one another, Derek watching Paige, who is at the table a few feet from their own. Peter happens upon them and sits down next to Rayne, causing her to roll her eyes._

"_Why does she eat alone?" Peter asks._

"_What are you doing here?"_

"_I'm looking out for my favorite Nephew, making sure no one has a crossbow aimed at your throat."_

"_I could get you banned from school grounds. You know that, right?"_

"_No one would ban me from anywhere. I'm too good-looking. Doesn't she have any friends?"_

"_A few, but she likes to study during lunch. I kind of just don't think she likes my friends."_

"_No one should like your friends. They're a bunch of hormonal half-wits. But that one over there— She's perfect for you." Peter steals Derek's Reese's cups, "And perfect combinations are rare in an imperfect world."_

_Derek sighs standing up from the table, Rayne following him. "It would worry me too, though. I'd probably be thinking about it all the time." Peter tells him._

"_Thinking about what?"_

"_Her finding out. You've thought that through, right? You know it always happens. One minute, you're in this blissful teen romance, and next, she sees fangs, glowing eyes, claws."_

"_She doesn't have to find out."_

"_But they always do… Especially when they're perfect for you. There's really only one way to make sure you'll always be together." The three of them look over at Paige as she glances their way, Peter solidifying his thoughts, "Turn her."_

* * *

"I kept telling him not to do it. Everyday the more he thought about it, the more convinced he became. You know teenagers. I bet he even blames me. He's probably convinced himself the whole thing was my idea."

* * *

"_I have a great idea." Peter tells Derek in the locker room._

"_Go away."_

"_Laura told you about the packs being here, right? There are more Alphas than I've ever seen in one place. Your mother would never do it. And these packs won't be here much longer. The time to do it is now. One little bite, and she never gets sick again. She stays younger, more beautiful. Think how she'll be able to protect herself. Derek… The bite is a gift."_

* * *

_In the same cellar Derek, Rayne and Peter hid from the hunters, those same hunters have found the entrance and came down inside. Gerard and Chris Argent, stand in the cellar looking around. _

"_What is that?" Gerard says pointing to a symbol on the roots of the tree above._

"_A Celtic five fold knot— it's a druid symbol. The air's different in here. Do you feel it? I think I know what this place is."_

"_Is that blood?" Gerard asks pointing the flashlight at the roots._

"_Sacrificial blood. We're in a Nemeton. It's a sacred meeting place. Ancient Celtic druids would usually choose a large, older tree in a grove. It would represent the center of the world. There was a belief that cutting or harming the tree in any way would cause serious problems for the surrounding villages."_

"_What sort of problems?"_

"_Fires, plagues, strife. Death and destruction of all kinds." _

* * *

"How does he know all about Celtic symbols and druids?" Allison asks.

"Know thy enemy, Allison. The older wolves had a relationship with the druids. They called them emissaries."

"Like my boss, Deaton." Scott says.

Gerard stands up out of his wheelchair walking over to a book on the desk, "Do you know the myth of Lycaon?"

"I know it's where we get the word "Lycanthropy." Scott says as he and Allison come to stand beside Gerard.

"According to myth, some Greek citizens believed they owed their lives more to Prometheus than to the Gods of Olympus. And some followers even took names to honor the Titans instead of the Gods."

"Like Deucalion," Scott says catching on.

"The Son of Prometheus." Gerard says. "Lycaon didn't just refuse to honor the Gods. He challenged them. He invited Zeus to a banquet and then tried to serve him the flesh of a human being. Angered, Zeus blew the place apart with lightning bolts and then punished Lycaon and his sons by turning them into wolves. The part that's lesser known is how Lycaon sought out the druids to help turn him back to human."

"Why druids?" Scott asks.

"The belief was that the ancient druids knew how to shape-shift. They couldn't make Lycaon and his sons human again, but they did teach them how to shift back and forth. And so the druids became important advisors to the packs."

* * *

"They keep us connected to humanity." Cora tells Stiles of the druids. "But they're a secret even in the pack. Sometimes only the Alpha knows who the emissary is. Derek and I had no idea about Deaton."

"Or his sister, Morrell." Peter inputs.

"She's an emissary too?" Stiles asks.

"For the Alpha pack." Peter tells him.

"Our guidance counselor? Why the hell don't you people tell me any of this stuff, huh? I shared some really intimate details with her."

"And did she give you good advice?" Cora asks.

"Actually, yeah."

"That's what they do." Peter says. "That's what Deaton used to do for Talia."

* * *

"_While I admire your willingness to extend an olive branch, I have to tell you, it might not be welcome."_

"_And I'm not sure that Gerard is the one to accept it." Talia tells him and Deucalion, Rayne stands nearby her Alpha listening intently, learning everything she can as Talia always taught her. _

"_It's true. The Argents have a matriarchal leadership." Deaton says._

"_Actually, I was speaking about the fact that he's a complete psychopath. I mean the man cuts people in half with a broadsword."_

"_Do the two of you really have so little faith in people?" Deucalion asks them. "You think Gerard isn't worried about the deaths on his side?"_

"_Do you know the story of the scorpion and the frog?" Deaton asks._

"_I have a feeling I'm about to hear it." Deucalion says._

"_When the scorpion asked the frog to carry him across the river, the frog said, "How do I know you won't sting me?" The scorpion replied, "Why would I do that? Then we'd both drown." So the frog agreed. Halfway across the river, the scorpion stung the frog. When the frog asked him why he did it, since now they would both die, the scorpion replied…"_

"_It's my nature." Rayne finished, Talia looking at her with a proud smile, as did Deaton._

"_Your faith in humanity may not matter if you underestimate Gerard's nature." Deaton says._

"_Make sure you meet him on neutral ground. And do not walk in there alone."_

"_I'm an Alpha. I never walk alone."_

* * *

_That night in the school Paige enters after receiving a note from Derek saying to meet him there. "Derek?" She hears a door open and close, "Derek, is that you?" _

_Paige has her back to the doors of the school, she turns as she hears footsteps. In front of her stands a tall man, it's Ennis, fully shifted into a werewolf. Paige turns running back down the hallway the way she came, Ennis easily catches up to her._

* * *

"Ennis? Why would you choose him?"

"Why not? Ennis needed a new member for his pack. Paige was young and strong. Doing a favor for Derek meant Ennis would be in good with Talia. Back then, everybody wanted to be in good with her."

_Derek sat in the locker room, he could hear Paige's distant cries and whimpering. He could hear Ennis snarling._

"He doesn't remember it was Ennis, does he?" Stiles asks.

"If he does, he keeps it to himself."

"So then what happened?" Stiles asks. "Did he turn her?"

"Almost."

* * *

_Derek runs into the hallway, he sees Ennis over Paige who is crawling on the floor. _

"He came at Ennis. A 15-year-old boy against a giant."

_Ennis picks Derek up by the front of his shirt throwing him against the wall. Derek lands on the floor, Ennis holds his head down, making him look at Paige._

"There was no reason for him to fight. She'd already been bitten."

_Ennis leaves after, Rayne and Peter having witnessed the whole thing._

* * *

"I wasn't really surprised when Deaton came to arrange a meeting with Deucalion. As William Blake said, "Any sinister person who means to be your enemy always start by trying to become your friend."

"How do you know he wasn't going there to make peace?" Scott asks.

"Because I'm not an idiot. Do you know thee Sanskrit fable of the scorpion and the turtle?"

"Yeah, the scorpion asks the turtle for a ride across the river."

"And when the scorpion stings the turtle, dooming them both, what does he say to explain his behavior?"

"It's my nature." Scott says.

"I know a werewolf's nature. I knew exactly what was coming— A trap."

* * *

_Outside the distillery Rayne stands in the forest, close enough to see watch what happens, but far enough away not to be seen. Deucalion's pack and the Argents stand inside the building._

_Gerard addresses them, "I think it's quite fitting that we are meeting in a distillery. You know, the process of distillation is the separating of two substances by pushing them into their different volatile states." _

"_Volatile is exactly the state I was hoping to avoid." Deucalion tells him._

"_Ooh." Gerard says walking over and taking hold of a valve. "Then this is going to come as quite a big disappointment." He turns the valve, gas pours into the room choking not only the wolves but the hunters as well. Gerard pulls something out of his pocket, stabbing it into his leg._

"_What have you done?" Deucalion asks coughing._

"They attacked you?" Allison asks.

"It was an ambush."

_Gerard picks up a bat, fitted with several rows of curved steel spikes. "One of the earliest weapons used by man was the spiked mace. I've made one of my own. I'd love to get your opinion on it." Gerard walks around, taking out his own people with the mace._

"_Your own people…" Deucalion says._

"_They wanted peace too." Gerard says. "Look what you did to them."_

* * *

"So did she turn?" Cora asks Peter.

"She should have. Most of the time, the bite takes. Most of the time."

"When you offered it to me, you said, "If it doesn't kill you." Stiles says.

"If." Peter says solemnly.

* * *

_Peter and Rayne open the doors to the cellar, running down the stairs they find Derek sitting on the floor at the base of the tree roots. Paige is cradled in his lap, Derek's hands holding her hand and her head._

"_What's happening to her?" Derek asked them._

"He knew the answer, though. It didn't matter that she was young and strong. Some people just aren't made for this. But she fought. She struggled desperately, trying to survive."

* * *

_Deucalion claws his way out of the building, crawling on his belly. He looks to the trees, his eyes locking with Rayne's. She moves to come to him, but he shakes his head whispering, "no" knowing she would hear him. She moves back into hiding, watching Gerard follow him out into the sunlight. _

_Deucalion stops, rolling over onto his back, he looks up at Gerard, "Don't. Don't do this. I had a vision, a vision of peace."_

_Gerard laughs, "A little shortsighted…" Gerard pulls out two arrows with flash bolt heads from behind him, holding them up above his head, "Wouldn't you say?"_

_He plunges them down into Deucalion's eyes, sparks shoot from his sockets as he screams. Rayne cringes turning away from the sight, all the while she can hear Deucalion's desperate screams._

_Moments later Gerard removes the arrows, stepping away from Deucalion and fleeing the scene._

* * *

_Derek takes Paige's hand lacing his fingers with hers, Derek pants heavily as her pain flows through his arm giving her some minor relief, Paige whimpers in his arms._

"_I'm sorry." He tells her._

"_I knew."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_Right after I told you my name, I think I knew. I've seen things in this town before, things no one really could explain. And then there's the way that you talk— How you say things, like how you'd catch a scent. And I know you can hear things, things that no one else can hear. I knew."_

"_And you still liked me?"_

"_I loved you."_

_She cries out, Derek taking as much of her pain as he can, until she stops crying. "I'm gonna die… Aren't I?"_

_Derek nods to her, "Ow," she cries out in pain again. "I can't. I can't take it anymore, Derek. I can't. Derek. Please. Please." _

_Derek nods, he moves her so she's hugging his side, "I'm sorry," he whispers before his eyes turn yellow and he takes her life. He screams out, then whispers, "I'm sorry." _

* * *

"I remember taking her body from his arms, to the woods, to a place where I knew that it would be found… Another in a long line of Beacon Hills animal attacks."

"And what about Derek?" Cora asks.

"Taking an innocent life takes… Something from you as well, a bit of your soul… Darkening it, dimming the once brilliant, golden yellow to a cold, steel blue… Like mine." Peter lets his eyes go blue to emphasis his point.

* * *

Peter leaves the two kids, going upstairs to the other room to give them time to process everything. Rayne is still sitting on the couch, she's twirling a black steel ring on her ring finger, inside of the ring are silver stars. Suddenly she cuts herself, "Ow." She looks down to find that the stars are simply set in the ring, they can be removed, and the edges are extremely sharp.

Like anyone else when they get a cut on their finger, Rayne puts it in her mouth. Just as her blood touches her tongue, Rayne's mind is filled with memories. Everything Peter spoke of tonight came flooding back into her mind, only she now knew Peter had lied about several things.

She pulls the ring from her finger, looking on the inside she finds an inscription. _'When it's time to remember. T'_

Rayne smiles, so there had been a reason for Talia to give this to her after the ordeal with Paige. Rayne smirked as she placed the ring back on her finger, now she knew the truth. She calmly walked upstairs to find Peter standing by the window. He turned as she walked up behind him, only for her to knock him down with a heavy punch to his jaw, the cracking of his jaw bone reverberating throughout the room.

"I remember Peter. I remember everything." She smiles as she watches the color drain from his face. "You're the reason Derek is the way he is. It's your fault."

* * *

_Deaton takes the wraps off of Deucalion's eyes, Talia and Rayne stand next to him. "I'm sorry." Rayne tells him._

"_The eyes will heal physically, but… Your sight is…" Deaton tells him._

_Deucalion opens his eyes, he is blind. He lets out a scream that shakes the entire building, he falls forward onto the table. "Leave me alone." He tells them all. Talia, Rayne and Deaton leave, his Beta Marco, however, stays._

"_Marco, I said…" He stands up facing him, "Leave me alone."_

"_You are alone." The Beta says before he reaches his claws back, he slashes at Deucalion, catching him on the arm. Deucalion suddenly realizes he can see through his wolf side, he watches Marco bring his arm back to slash at him again. He growls attacking the Beta, knocking him back onto the exam table, Deucalion goes rabid, tearing into the Betas flesh._

* * *

"He sees as a wolf?" Scott asks.

"He's not always blind."

"Maybe we can use it against him." Allison says, Scott nods, the two of them standing up.

"Scott." Gerard asks pulling up his sleeve, Scott nods moving forward pulling up his as well. He takes Gerard's hand, both of them groaning as the pain leaves one and enters the other.

"Oh, I think about you sometimes, Scott. You and your sister. I do. I wonder, what if I'd done things differently? Getting the bite to cure my cancer. And I wonder when it became my nature to believe most things couldn't be asked for but had to be taken."

"I don't believe you. The whole time that you were telling your story, I was listening to your heartbeat. It never went up. It never went down. It was steady the whole time."

"Because I was telling the truth."

"Or because you're a really good liar." Scott reaches down taking his hand again, squeezing it in his werewolf grasp, "If you lied and it gets people hurt… I'll be back to take away more than your pain."

* * *

Back in the loft, Stiles and Cora are processing what they have just learned. Stiles looks so lost, Cora finally asks him, "What? What's this— What's this look on your face?"

"What look?"

"The kind of look that makes me want to punch you."

"Oh, my God. You are so Derek's sister. I forgot."

"Well, what is with the look?"

"I just don't believe him. All right, in Ms. Blake's class, we're reading _Heart of Darkness_, and it's in first person, right? Narrated by Marlow. The thing is that he's— He's an unreliable narrator. You know the details of it have changed, you know, just because of his perspective."

"Well, then we heard the story from Peter's perspective."

"Right, and I don't think we got the whole story."

"So, what, are— Are you just gonna ask Derek about the girl he fell in love with and then killed?"

"If I have too… Yeah."

Stiles and Cora look up as Rayne descends the stairs, picking up her jacket she shrugs it on and walks past them on the steps. Just before she gets to the door, Stiles calls to her, "Rayne." She turns back to the boy who is practically her brother. "Before you became an Alpha—" He hesitates, biting his lip, "—What color were your eyes?"

Rayne casts her eyes to the floor, then back up to Stiles, "Blue."

* * *

_Talia steps down into the cellar, she finds Derek sitting on the ground, his head in his hands, and Rayne sitting next to him._

"_Derek…"_

"_I did something… Something terrible."_

_She kneels down in front of him, "I know." She places her fingers under his chin, lifting his head up, his eyes are closed._

"_My eyes… They're different."_

_Talia smiles, "Different, but still beautiful… Just like the rest of you."_

_Derek opens his eyes, steel blue staring up at his mother._

* * *

Derek stands in the empty distillery, a sullen look on his face. He stares at the spiral carved into the wall, sunlight filtering in through the slashes from outside.

"I knew I'd find you here."

Derek's eyes shift to the open doorway, Rayne's standing there, leaning against the doorframe, her arms crossed over her chest. As his eyes meet hers, she smiles.

"I was wrong." She tells him.

Derek's mouth lifts into a smile, he opens his arms and she moves into his embrace. They hold one another tightly as they stare at the spiral.


	9. The Girl Who Knew Too Much

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Wolf or anything related to it. I only own my original character Rayne and anything else that seems out of place.**

I want to say a big thank you to those that have reviewed this story so far. It means so much to me.

**Marine76 & NicoleR85 - Thank you again for the reviews I appreciate it :)**

xoxo Tiearney

* * *

The day after Peter's story, Rayne came back to the loft. There was still an air of uncertainty around her, like she may bolt at any minute. She knew she was right when she told Derek that the Alphas would use her to get to him. She knew she was right to leave. The problem with leaving was, those few hours away from Derek sent her heart crashing to her feet and her entire body ached, literally.

She sat on the couch, entering what new knowledge she had into her laptop. With everything she now remembered, she felt best to jot it down, it helped make sense of everything to her. She stopped typing, twirling the ring on her finger she looked to the ceiling as if she'd find her answers up there.

"Oh Talia. I wish you were here. I desperately need your guidance."

Rayne laid her head back, closing her eyes, revealing in the silence. Until—

"Ah, so the lovers have made up I see."

An irritated growl rumbled in Rayne's chest. "Peter, another word and I swear I will kill you."

"Promise?"

Rayne opened her eyes to find Peter sitting on the table next to her feet, leaning in to her, a evident smirk on his face.

"So, where is lover boy?"

Rayne sighed sitting up, placing her laptop on the table. "I don't know. Why don't you yank on the proverbial chain you have him on, and find him yourself." She stands up walking over to the window.

"Ah, so the lovers haven't fully made up. Shame. You were doing so well."

Rayne shakes her head, turning around she leans back on the glass, her arms crossed over her chest. "What happened to you?"

"Well let's see. I was burned alive, put into a comatose paralyzed state, and my throat slashed by your mate, need I add. Umm, resurrected to find that my Nephew is the worst Alpha ever choosing teenagers to back him up and I sit back every day watching him screw things up even more."

Rayne smirks as she studies his face, "You still want to be an Alpha."

She is rewarded when his head snaps up quickly as he growls out with an air of authority, "I am an Alpha."

Rayne chuckles, "Believe me, I know you are."

Peter is rattled, "How?"

Rayne saunters slowly over to him, "You forget, I know you Peter." She stops before him, giving him a sultry look up and down his body, "Very well might I add." She gives a small shiver of disgust, "Of course that was your choice, not mine."

Peter growls at her, she smiles, "Down boy. It's not my fault I wasn't attracted to you. Get over it. My point is, I know you always have something up your sleeve. A plan in your head. Just waiting for the right moment to fuck us all. Just remember one thing…"

Rayne shoves her claws into Peter's stomach, lifting him several inches off the floor. "I have Talia's blood running through my veins. Which means I know everything you're capable of and if you endanger any of the people I care about, you'll be reunited with _our_ family. When I rip your heart from your chest and sever you in two."

She rips out her claws, letting Peter drop to the floor, then walks out of the loft.

* * *

She meets up with Scott and Stiles in an empty hallway at the school where they have Ethan with them.

"Why are you even talking to me? I helped kill your friend. How do you know I'm not gonna kill another one?" Ethan says looking at Stiles.

"Is he looking at me? Are you threatening me? You know what I'm gonna do?" Stiles pushes off the wall, moving towards Ethan. "I'm gonna break off an extra large branch of Mountain Ash, wrap it in Wolfsbane, roll it in Mistletoe, and shove it up your freaking—"

Scott pushes Stiles back before he can finish, "Whoa, Stiles, okay. We get it."

Rayne wraps her arms around Stiles neck, pulling him back against her body, "Nicely put. Now calm down." She whispers in his ear, immediately feeling his tense body relax.

"We're talking to you because I know that you didn't want to kill Boyd. And I think that if something like that happened now, you wouldn't do it again." Scott says.

"You don't know what we owe them, especially Deucalion. We weren't like Kali and Ennis when we met him. We weren't Alphas."

"What were you?"

"Omegas."

* * *

Down in the locker room, Aiden is being attacked by Cora, with Lydia watching helplessly.

* * *

"In actual wolf packs, Omegas are the scapegoat, the last to eat, the one who has to take the abuse from the pack."

"So you and your brother were like the bitches of the pack?" Stiles quips making Rayne smile against his back.

"Something like that."

"What happened?" Scott asks.

"They were killers. I mean, people talk about us as monsters. Well, they were the ones who gave us the reputation. And our Alpha was the worst of them."

"Why didn't you guys just fight back?" Stiles asks. "Form Voltron wolf, you know? Kick everyone's asses?"

"We couldn't, we didn't know how to control it back then."

"Deucalion taught you." Rayne says.

"And then, we fought. We took down the whole pack, one-by-one. And by the time we got to our Alpha, he was begging for his life. And we tore him apart. Literally."

"What about your Emissary?" Rayne asks.

"They're all dead? Kali and Ennis' too?" Scott asks.

"All of them except for Deucalion."

"You mean Morrell?" Stiles asks.

Suddenly Ethan grabs his chest, Scott steps forward, "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

"Not me. My brother."

* * *

Down in the locker room, Aiden and Cora continue to fight one another. Aiden throws Cora over by the sinks, knocking her head against the wall. He picks up a huge 50 pound weight, Lydia yells at him, "Aiden stop! Aiden!"

He hits Cora across the face with it, knocking her over by Lydia, "Stop!"

The other four rush in, Rayne and Stiles kneeling down by Cora, while Scott and Ethan restrain Aiden.

"Aiden! You can't do this!" Ethan yells at his brother after he had dropped the weight.

"She came at me!" Aiden says his fangs snapping.

"It doesn't matter! Kali gave Derek until the next full moon. You can't touch him or her."

Aiden sees the look Lydia gives him, he shakes his head as Ethan pulls him from the room.

"Hey, guys, I think she's pretty hurt." Stiles says looking at the wound on her head, that doesn't seem to be healing.

* * *

Rayne helps Cora stand up, taking her over to the mirrors, Cora tries to clean up the wound.

"Are you okay?" Stiles asks her.

"She doesn't look okay." Lydia says.

"I'll heal," Cora says with a sigh, she steps back from the mirror wobbling, the boys step forward to grab her but she shrugs them off. "I said I'm fine."

"Do you realize how suicidally crazy that was?" Stiles asks her. "What were you thinking going after them?"

"I did it for Boyd. None of you were doing anything." Cora looks pointedly at Rayne.

"We're trying." Scott says answering for his sister.

"And you're failing. You're just a bunch of stupid teenagers running around, thinking that you can stop people from getting killed. But all you do is show up late. All you really do is find the bodies." Cora turns and walks out.

Stiles steps forward, "She's definitely a Hale. I'll make sure she gets home."

* * *

Derek had no idea why he was there right now, standing outside the school. All he knew was something was telling him to be there. Footsteps echoed as the person he was there for approached. As she saw him, she smiled and ran to him. He caught her in his arms, holding her tight and close to him, kissing her hard.

She pulled back exhaling, "Where the hell have you been? And don't say that you needed to be alone for a while because that is the single worst excuse ever." She looked up into his face seeing the pain on it, "Oh. God, I'm sorry. You really did need to be alone, didn't you?"

"I'm here now. And you were safe. Trust me."

"I haven't felt safe, partially because the evil twins are walking around school like nothing happened."

"They're not gonna hurt you."

They both smile… Until the bell rings. The woman sighs, "Some days, I just wanna take a sledgehammer to that bell."

Derek smiles, "Why don't you just come back with me?"

"I can't. I've got three more classes and I put this recital together tonight. I organized it to honor the losses at the school and—and now, it just sounds really stupid, doesn't it?"

"No. It sounds perfect."

The two kiss once more and then the woman takes her leave. She smirks to herself knowing she has Derek right where she wants him and Rayne is next. This Alpha couple won't make it to the next sunrise.

* * *

Derek returns back to the loft, the first thing he finds his Rayne standing by the window, her back to him and his heart clenches in his chest.

"Where were you today?" He asks her.

"At the school." Her voice is empty and he panics thinking she saw him and the woman. "I was helping Scott find out more about the Alphas and the Druid."

"Did you find out anything new?"

"Yeah. I found out a lot." She turns to him a sad smile on her face. "Where were you?"

"Just getting a little fresh air."

Rayne nods, "Must of done you good. I felt your excitement and happiness from here. Your heart sounded like a hummingbird it was beating so fast." Rayne gasps at the end of her sentence, leaning against the desk for support as she clutched her chest.

"Rayne—" He starts for her.

"Don't." She holds up her hand, stopping him. "Just answer me one question Derek." She raises her head, locking eyes with him. "Am I the only one?"

"Of course you are. You're my mate. I love you Rayne."

A beat passes and then Rayne laughs, "You know what I heard just now?" She walks over to him, pain wracking her body, she stands toe-to-toe her face touching his, her lips next to his ear. "You lie." She whispered before walking out, the door slamming shut behind her.

Rayne gets a call from her brother, telling her about the teacher missing from the school. Then another from Stiles saying there was something wrong with Cora and they were taking her to the hospital. She rushes back upstairs to the loft, "Derek!"

He turns as she runs back in, he's thinking she's forgave him, "It's Cora."

As they leave, Rayne gets another call, from someone very unexpected. "I'll catch up." She tells Derek and Peter as she gets in her truck, answering the phone.

"What is it, Chris?"

"I need your help, again."

* * *

Inside an abandoned building, Allison and Isaac wander in looking for her father. They think he's the one killing people.

"FYI, if your dad tries to kill me, I'm gonna defend myself."

"If my dad tries to kill you, you'll be dead."

Isaac scoffs, "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

Suddenly Isaac stops, "Whoa."

"What?" Allison asks.

"I smell blood."

"Where? What direction?"

"I don't know. I'm not that good at this yet. But I think it's…" He points ahead of them and the two begin forward, Allison pulling out one of her daggers.

"Allison."

She keeps walking, "Allison, wait."

They see the teacher ahead of them strapped to a fence, a creature standing behind him. Allison wastes no time, running forward.

"Allison, don't!" Isaac says running after her.

"Get down!" Chris says running out behind them, guns drawn. He fires at the creature, Rayne behind him tracking it, as it turns to run.

"Help him!" Chris yells to the two teens while still firing at the creature.

"It's Mr. Westover." Allison says.

"It's our History teacher." Isaac says, his uncertain eyes meeting his Alphas.

"We were wrong. It's not Guardians as in Law Enforcement." Allison says.

* * *

"It's Philosophers as in teachers." Scott says on the phone with Stiles, "Allison and her father just found Mr. Westover."

"That makes sense. Tara she wasn't always a cop. She used to teach middle school."

"Then the last one's gonna be another teacher."

"Yeah, but there's dozens of them, Scott, and they're all headed home."

"No." Scott says standing outside of the school. "No, they're not. They're all going to the recital."

* * *

"You two have been tracking the killer on your own this whole time." Allison says looking to Scott's sister and her dad.

"Yeah, and we were this close. We could've caught him if the two of you…"

"So it's my fault?" Allison asks approaching her father. "That you've been lying to me for the past two months?"

"You wanna tally up the lies, Allison? I don't think you're gonna come out ahead on that one."

"Hey, just a thought? Maybe right now, isn't the best time for a little family meeting?" Rayne snaps. "There's still one more teacher."

"The recital." Chris says.

"Guess we're going after all." Allison quips.

* * *

At the hospital Stiles is following his father through the halls to the front doors, still trying to convince his father of the things that are really going on in Beacon Hills.

"What did you see the night at the bank the night when Scott was trying to save Deaton?"

"Nothing."

"Dad, you saw him healing himself after he tried crossing the mountain ash."

"I don't know what I saw."

"You saw something that you can't explain."

"Stiles, I have seen a lot of things I can't explain in this town. That doesn't make 'em supernatural and it doesn't make 'em real. They just found another body. That's real. And that's the lead I'm following."

"Yeah, and another teachers gonna die if you don't start listening to me."

"I am listening! I have been listening!" The Sheriff yells.

Stiles finally gets it, "You just don't believe."

The Sheriff holds up his finger, shaking it he turns to leave.

"Mom would've believed me."

* * *

At the recital, Scott is looking over the crowd. He sees the twins and Ms. Morrell in the crowd. He turns to his right and sees Lydia, "I thought you were going home."

"I can't. I don't know why I am the one that keeps finding the bodies, but maybe if I just stopped trying to fight it, I'd find them before it happens, maybe with enough time for someone like you to do something about it."

"You get me the time, and I'll do something about it. I swear to God, I will." Scott tells her his voice full of conviction. Lydia nods taking Scott's hand in hers, squeezing it.

* * *

At the hospital Derek sits by Cora's bedside holding her hand in his, his mouth resting on their hands, his eyes shining with tears.

"Derek?" Cora mutters, opening her eyes.

Derek jumps up from the chair, moving up by her face, "Hey. Hey, I'm here."

"What's happening to me?"

"I don't know. But I'm not leaving, okay? Not again."

Cora nods closing her eyes as Derek kisses her forehead.

* * *

Out in the lobby, Sheriff Stilinski is speaking to Scott and Rayne's mother. "The records would be over ten years old. I just need to look over a couple files."

"If this is about the murders, you'd need a court order for that." Melissa says, as the Sheriff sighs. "Or someone like me that's willing to bend the rules for a handsome face." She sets a pad of paper and a pen on the desk. "Give me the details. I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you."

* * *

Allison, Isaac, Chris and Rayne arrive outside of the school for the recital.

Inside Lydia gets a text from Aiden, _'Need to see you right now.'_

He looks around finding her, he nods. She gets another text, _'Life or death!'_

"It better be." She says walking away from Scott.

Behind Scott through the doors walk Chris and Rayne, followed by Allison and Isaac. Scott turns to look at them, he gets a nod from Allison, but Isaac looks slightly worried because he's with Scott's ex-girlfriend. Rayne stops next to her brother as the other three continue around the room.

* * *

Back at the hospital, down in the morgue, Melissa is showing the Sheriff what she has found. "There was a patient just like you described. Slash marks all over the body. Doctors thought it had to be an animal."

She sets down one set of charts. "Oh," She picks up another one. "But there's something else. Something happened at the same time that was even stranger."

* * *

Inside the assembly hall Stiles has joined Scott and Rayne. Aiden is fumbling around, searching his pockets. Ethan notices, "What's up?"

"Nothing. I just think I lost my phone."

* * *

"Birds?" The Sheriff says.

"Hundreds of them. While the patient was in the O.R. struggling to hold on, hundreds of birds were flying into the walls, windows, like they were committing some kind of mass suicide."

"Or like they were sacrificing themselves."

"For what?"

"Not what. Who."

* * *

Lydia meanwhile is headed to Ms. Blake's classroom, looking for Aiden. She hears the same music she heard when Mr. Harris went missing.

"You recognize it don't you?"

Lydia gasps turning to find Ms. Blake herself behind her, she hits Lydia in the head with a stick, knocking her out.

Scott, Stiles and Rayne run out front of the school, the three of them yelling for her.

"Lydia?" Stiles yells.

"Lydia!"

"Lydia!"

"Anything?" Stiles asks the two wolves as they search the grounds with their wolf vision and their hearing. "She's not answering texts." Stiles says checking his phone. "What do we do? Scott?"

Lydia comes to, touching her head, she sees blood on her fingertips, in front of her kneels Ms. Blake, "What are you doing?"

"What's necessary." The teacher says. "I'm still surprised none of you seem to get that. You call them sacrifices, but you're not understanding the word. It's derived from the Latin _Sacrificium_, and offering to a deity, a sacred rite. A necessary evil.

"Stop." Lydia says weakly.

"Oh, I wish I could. But you don't know the Alphas like I do."

"Please, stop."

Ms. Blake stands up walking around behind the teen girl, "But you, Lydia, you're not a sacrifice. You're just a girl who knows too much. Actually, a girl who _knew_ too much."

She wraps a cord around Lydia neck, the girl puts one of her hands up to keep it off her throat.

"Lydia, don't!"

Suddenly, Lydia shrieks as loud as possible.

* * *

Five people grab their heads as they hear the scream. Scott and Rayne drop to their knees, Stiles eyes the two of them, "Scott? Rayne?" Isaac covers his ears as he stands next to Chris. And the twins cover theirs in the audience. Even Derek hears it at the hospital.

* * *

Lydia stops after a moment, her body drained of energy, she whimpers as her hand falls to her lap. Ms. Blake drops the cord and walks back around standing in front of Lydia.

"Unbelievable. You have no idea what you are, do you? The Wailing Woman. A banshee, right before my eyes. You're just like me, Lydia. Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it. It's too bad, though… And too late."

She walks to Lydia's right side, duck taping her arm to the chair.

Lydia cries, "No, please…"

She duct tapes her other hand down, then moves behind the girl and turns the bar tightening the cord around Lydia's neck. The teen gasps, choking. Ms. Blake pulls out a knife, "One last Philosopher."

* * *

Inside the auditorium, the possessed orchestra is playing the song that Lydia heard when the teacher was taken. Everyone in the crowd is unnerved, looking around wondering what is going on. Suddenly a string on the piano snaps, slitting the teachers neck open, killing her. The band stops playing, the crowd starts screaming and running for the exits.

"Allison!" Chris yells as she runs down to the stage, Isaac following them.

Allison sees a white substance dripping from the woman's mouth, "Mistletoe."

* * *

In the room, Ms. Blake is just about to slit Lydia's throat when—

"Drop it!" The Sheriff is standing, gun drawn.

Ms. Blake smiles, she throws the knife, it embeds in the right side of the Sheriff's chest, he drops his gun as he falls to the floor. He hears a two loud growls and looks up to find Scott and Rayne, both fully shifted, eyes flashing.

The two of them rush the teacher, jumping over the tops of tables towards the front of the room. Scott swipes at her with his claws, she dodges hitting him with a flat palm in his chest. He flies back across the room and lands in a huge pile of chairs. As he hits the floor face first, a gush of blood spills from his mouth.

Rayne turns back to the teacher growling her eyes flashing red, she lands her first and second blow to the teachers face and abdomen. But the teacher is too fast for her and pulls out another knife driving it into Rayne's abdomen. The Alpha crumbles to the floor, the teacher stands up smirking and lays her foot on Rayne's throat, leaning down.

"He loves me." The teacher whispers to Rayne.

It takes a moment but realization flashes in Rayne's eyes, she closes her eyes as the tears gather.

Stiles comes to the open door, Ms. Blake sees him and with a touch of her fingertips, she pushes the desk over slamming the door shut in Stiles face. The Sheriff takes the moment to grab his gun and point it at Ms. Blake, "There was a girl. Years ago, we found her in the woods, her face and body slashed apart. That was you, wasn't it?"

"Maybe I should've started with Philosophers, with knowledge and strategy." She advances on the Sheriff who fires a shot into her thigh, the hole instantly closes. "Healers…" She grabs him by the knife and lifts him up, he drops the gun as she shoves him back into the stacks of chairs. "Warriors…" She rips his badge off his shirt, "Guardians…" Crushing the badge in half with her bare hand. "Virgins." She kisses the Sheriff, then suddenly before his eyes she turns into the hideous Darach creature.

Stiles finally pushes his way into the room, as Scott stands up clutching his stomach. They run over to the busted out window, Stiles calling out, "Dad?"

The two boys run over to Rayne who sits up, tears falling rapidly down her face. She pulls the knife out slowly not making a sound.

"We need to get to Derek. Now." Scott says.

Rayne's eyes shift between the two boys, "So it's true? Derek's been with her."

The two boys don't answer right away, then Scott sighs, "I'm sorry Rayne."

Rayne stands up shaking, more from anger than pain. She holds the knife dripping with her own blood in her hand. The boys see a terrifying shine to her eyes they have never seen before.

"Let's go." Her voice is deep and feral, she eyes the dagger in her hand as she smiles vindictively, "I have something to return."


	10. The Overlooked

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Wolf or anything related to it. I only own my original character Rayne and anything else that seems out of place.**

I want to say a big thank you to those that have reviewed this story so far. It means so much to me.

**Marine76 & NicoleR85 - Thank you again for the reviews I appreciate it :) Yes I know I am so cruel to Rayne, but it is only because I know she can handle it. Yes, Derek is in big trouble!**

xoxo Tiearney

* * *

By the time the three of them had arrived back at Derek's loft, a full blown storm had manifested outside. It was as if Mother Nature was warning them of the impending fight headed their way. The lightning cracked across the sky, thunder shaking the buildings and the wind threatening to tear the town apart. The power is out in several towns including half of Beacon Hills, and Hill Valley is on a flood watch.

Rayne has been silent the entire drive causing an uneasy silence to settle inside the Jeep. The two boys exchange worries glances, both concerned about what she may do when she sees Derek. As they pull into the parking area under the building Rayne jumps out of the vehicle heading for the stairs, the boys quickly scramble to follow her but she's much faster.

They stumble through the open door of the loft expecting to find her standing over Derek's bleeding corpse, but instead she surprises them as she simply stands at the bottom of the stairs watching Derek as he stands by the window.

* * *

Hearing the two boys he turns to find Rayne standing in the room, he's confused as to why he didn't hear her enter. He smiles at his mate, but it fades when he sees the blood covering her torso and the knife clenched in her shaking hand. He starts towards her but pauses hesitantly when the two boys behind her shake their heads quickly in warning. The room is deathly silent like a morgue at night, save for the platter of blood dripping from the knife point onto the floor.

Derek quietly speaks hoping the fire in his mate's eyes is not for him. "Rayne, what happened?"

Her gaze darkens at his words, she calmly reaches up taking hold of her necklace and in one swift movement she rips it from her neck, a move that causes Derek to flinch. Her eyes flick from the piece of jewelry in her hand back up to Derek's eyes. She takes a step forward and tosses it, it slides across the floor coming to rest at his feet. "Your girlfriend's on her way."

Derek's chest clenches, his breath catching, he watches as she walks calmly into the other room, her voice void of any emotion and rage emanating off of her in waves. He had never meant to hurt her, and truthfully he still had no idea why he felt so strongly for Jennifer, when the only woman he pictured himself with forever was Rayne.

Scott and Stiles quickly explained what had happened at the school with Ms. Blake, and Derek felt lower than before afterwards.

Shortly after he heard Jennifer approaching the loft, he sent the two into the other room with Rayne while he confronted the woman.

* * *

"Derek?" Jennifer opens the door to the loft, rushing down the stairs. "Derek, where are you?"

"Right here." He steps out from the room behind the couch, the other three waiting behind the brick wall across the room.

Jennifer sighs, "Thank God." She rushes towards him throwing her arms around his neck as his find their way around her waist.

She pulls away from him but he keeps a hold of her hand. "Something happened at the recital. At the school. Okay, I needed to tell you before you hear it, before you hear any of it from them."

"From who?"

"Scott, Stiles. Rayne. They're gonna tell you things. Things you can't believe. You have to trust me, okay? You trust me."

"What is it?"

"Promise you'll listen to me."

"Promise."

Jennifer moves forward kissing him, but she soon realizes something is wrong, the passion from before is gone. He knows. She pulls away staring into his eyes, "They're already here, aren't they?"

Derek's eyes shift behind Jennifer where the trio steps out from behind the broken brick wall. The she-wolf and the woman lock eyes, Jennifer smirks as she feels the tension between the mated wolves.

"So… They told you it was me? That I'm the one taking people?"

"We told him you're the one killing people." Scott reiterates out barely containing his anger.

"Oh, that's right." Jennifer chuckles as she eyes the teenagers. "Committing human sacrifices? What, cutting their throats? Yeah, I probably do it on my lunch hour. That way I can get back to teaching high school English the rest of the day. That makes perfect sense."

"Where's my dad?" Stiles chokes out, tears falling from his eyes at the thought of what his father is going through at that moment.

Jennifer gives the two boys her best innocuous look. "How should I know?" She turns to Derek to find the dark look on his face as his eyes shift between her and the others. "Derek, tell me you don't believe this."

Derek's eyes shift from Jennifer to the two boys, he takes in Scott's venomous stare and Stiles' tear filled eyes. His eyes move to Rayne, her eyes don't stray from Jennifer and he can feel the tension filling her body. "Do you know what happened to Stiles' father?"

Her tone is pleading, "No."

"Ask her why she almost killed Lydia."

Jennifer's head whips around to stare at Scott, "Lydia Martin? I don't know anything about that."

"What do you know?" Derek demands.

"I know that these boys for whatever misguided reason, are filling your head with an absurd story." She turns back to the boys. "And one they can't prove, by the way."

"And this knife?" Rayne speaks for the first time, her voice thick with hatred. "You stabbing me? Telling me Derek loves you. Am I making that up?"

Jennifer has no response, her eyes shift uneasily between the she-wolf and the boys before her.

Scott holds up a bottle filled with a white substance. "What if we can?"

"What is that?"

Scott steps forward slowly opening the bottle top. "My boss told me it's a poison and a cure… Which means you can use it… And it can be used against you."

Jennifer catches the scent as Scott removes the top, she backs up several steps. "Mistletoe."

Scott flings the bottle towards her sending the powder through the air. As it reaches her, the four watch as she roars, transforming back and forth between her body and the Darach. She comes back to herself as the powder dissipates, Derek's face is a mixture of disbelief and hurt. Jennifer sees the look the Alpha male gives her and she bolts for the door, only to have a powerful hand wrap around her throat and drag her backwards.

Jennifer claws at Derek's hand, "Derek, wait, wait! You need me."

Derek flicks out the claws on his left hand, his teeth clenched prepared to kill her. "What are you?"

"The only person who can save your sister. Call Peter. Call him!"

Derek keeps his hold on Jennifer and takes out his phone calling his Uncle. Rayne trains her hearing to the phone call hoping she's lying and Rayne will be allowed to kill her.

"_It's not good. She's in and out of consciousness. She's vomiting up black blood along with one other alarming substance."_

"Mistletoe." Derek and Rayne repeat in tandem causing the boys to stare at them.

"_How did you know that?"_

Derek ends the phone call, his lips set into a tight line as he squeezes his hand preparing to crush Jennifer's larynx, she gasps for air as his grip tightens.

"Derek. Derek, what are you doing?" Scott's question goes unanswered as the Alpha applies more pressure.

"Her life— It's in my hands!" Jennifer chokes out, playing her last card that she prays will make him let her go.

Derek lifts her into the air, her legs dangling several feet above the floor. Stiles hurriedly steps forward knowing Jennifer is the only way to find his father. "Stop. Derek, stop!"

"Stilinski, you'll never find him." Jennifer grits out knowing her last hope for Derek to release her is the two boys.

"Derek." Shockingly it's Rayne's voice that breaks the tense moment as she steps forward. "Derek!"

The Alpha lets Jennifer go, she crumples to the ground gasping for air, the thunder outside rumbles loudly. The four observe as Jennifer begins chuckling looking up from the floor directly at Derek. "That's right. You need me." Her head whips towards the other three. "All of you."

* * *

Derek's jaw clenches as his face contorts in anger as he locks eyes with Rayne. The four of them make their way down to Derek's FJ in the parking garage, Derek has a vice grip on Jennifer's arm, only releasing her when she's firmly in the car. Rayne gets in the Jeep with Scott and Stiles, just because she stopped Derek from killing the woman didn't mean she forgave him. No. She was doing this for Cora.

"I don't know, something feels wrong about this. We proved it to Derek, but she still had this look like it didn't matter. You know, like it was all still going according to plan. You saw it, didn't you?"

The two siblings exchange worried glances, just as Stiles, they had noticed as well. There's no time to question it as they pull up outside of the hospital, the rain coming down in sheets. Derek's SUV is ahead of them, the Jeep pulls up, the trio jumping out and running for the doors. Scott looks over noticing Stiles carrying a bat. "What's that?"

"Well, you two got claws. I got a bat."

The siblings nod figuring he had a point as they follow Derek and Jennifer into the hospital, the Alpha holding the woman's arm in a vise grip as they walk through the halls.

"Scott! Rayne!" The McCall siblings turn to find their mom running up behind them from the opposite hallway. "What are you doing here? The hospital's evacuating."

Scott turns around, "We're here for Cora."

"What? All of you? Why does Stiles have my bat?"

"Mom, just trust me on this. You need to get out of here." A beat passes, the thunder rumbles as Scott eyes his mother. "Right now."

Melissa's gaze moves from her kids to the others behind them. "The building is supposed to be clear in thirty minutes. We've got two ambulances that are coming back. One's ten minutes out, the other's twenty. Cora needs to be on one of those. They'll be picking up in the basement garage."

"Got it."

Melissa watches as her kids head down the hallway with the others towards the elevator.

* * *

Jennifer sighs as the elevator doors close, she eyeballs Derek's hand on her arm, his claws shining in the lights. "You don't have to keep me on a leash, Derek. I'm going to help." She turns her head to the left to find both McCall siblings angrily watching her, then she turns to the right to find Stiles behind Derek, bat poised ready to strike her. She rolls her eyes and stands irritated as the elevator comes to a stop, the bell dinging as the doors roll open.

The five walk down the hall towards Cora's room, the lights above them flickering off then back on. Derek pauses in the doorway noticing first Cora's empty bed, then his eyes find the puddle of black blood on the floor. Rayne follows a trail of small blood drops out of the room and down the hall. "Derek." The Alpha's eyes meet as she nods towards the trail that leads through a set of closed doors ahead of them where they can hear muffled grunting coming from the other side.

Suddenly Peter is thrown out of the doors, sliding on his back along the floor he comes to a rest at Derek and Rayne's feet. He looks up at them with a scowl, "We got a problem." He lifts his head up looking back through the doors, "Big problem."

A loud roar fills the halls as the group finds the twins combined into the giant wolf staring them down. In a split second Derek shifts and charges the giant shoving his shoulder into its stomach and staggering it backwards. He stands up trading swipes with the beast till it grabs him by the back of the head and hits him with a forearm to the face twice before tossing him against the wall. Scott and Rayne shift and charge the giant, they leap up both shoving off opposite walls hoping it will only focus on one of them leaving the other to catch it off guard. It works as the giant takes a swing catching Rayne in the ribcage and sending her to the floor, but leaving Scott open to get in a few hits to the beasts midsection.

Stiles sees that the giant is distracted, he leans down tugging on Peter's arm, "Help me." The two of them move past the giant while he has Scott pinned to the wall by his throat and move to Cora's lifeless form.

"Ethan, Aiden, Stop! You don't know what you're doing."

"All we want is her."

The giant drops Scott as it sees its prey getting away, both Derek and Rayne look up as the elevator doors close with Jennifer behind them giving the male Alpha a sorrowful glance.

* * *

With the distraction Peter picks up Cora's limp body draping her over his shoulder, he heads through a set of double doors with the other's behind him.

"Don't stop, don't stop!" Derek urges them forward as he watches behind them for the giant.

Stiles pauses looking back at the door they had just came through. "Stiles!" Derek yells at the kid as he moves to the side of the doors hiding in the corner, the giant shoves the doors open and Stiles slams the bat across the back of its head. The top half of the bat shatters, splinters flying everywhere. The giant turns to Stiles, roaring loudly causing Stiles to quickly move towards his friends.

"Scott!"

The young Beta looks up where his sister is nodding towards the large light above their heads. He nods jumping forward, Derek grabs the Beta's foot hoisting him up, Scott grabs the end of the light pulling it down and slamming it into the giant. The electricity crackles as the room gets dim, they run out the opposite doors to catch up with Peter.

The hospital goes black, the back up generators hum but only a minimum amount of emergency lighting comes on. They run into an exam room, Derek shuts the doors, while Peter lays Cora down on a table checking her out. He glances up at Derek, "Where's the big guy?"

"He's close." Derek replies looking out of the door window.

"What about Ms. Blake?" Even though he knows the answer and is dreading hearing it out loud, Stiles still has to ask. He sees the siblings shake their heads. "What do you mean? What does that mean? Like, she's gone? Scott, are you kidding me?"

Derek turns to the two, "Shh, quiet."

"Me be quiet? Me, huh? Are you telling me what to do now?" The teen is right up in Derek's face causing the Alpha to growl. "When your psychotic, mass murdering girlfriend— the second one you've dated, by the way— has got my dad somewhere, tied up, waiting to be ritually sacrificed?"

Scott approaches his brother, "Stiles, they're still out there."

"And— And they want her, right? Which means now we don't have her either, so my dad and Cora are both dead!"

"Not yet." Scott steps over to Peter. "Is she really dying?"

"She's definitely not getting any better."

"There has to be something that we can do. We have to help her."

The door slams open as Jennifer steps into the room, "You can't. Only I can. I can save her, and I can tell you where Sheriff Stilinski is. But there is a pack of Alphas in this hospital who want me dead. So I'll help you… But only when I'm out of here and safe. Only then."

* * *

Two growls are heard as Rayne and Derek move forward, the male Alpha throwing a cart to the side sending medical supplies across the floor. Scott stops the two stepping in their path, "Derek, Rayne, wait!"

"She was trying to get out." Derek growls wanting nothing more to rip this woman apart.

"I was trying to keep from getting killed. You can't blame me for that."

Stiles steps up, "If you want to show you're one of the good guys, then heal her."

"Not until I'm safe."

"I'd like to volunteer a different method of persuasion." Peter offers. "Let's torture her."

"I'm with Peter on this." Rayne smirks pulling the knife still stained with her blood out of her waistband, the blade glinting in the light. "I've got the knife."

"Works for me." Derek says moving for Jennifer but again Scott stops him.

All at once the P.A. system squeaks, "Um, can I have your attention? Mr. Deucalion. Excuse, me just Deucalion— requests you bring the woman calling herself Jennifer Blake to the E.R. Reception. Do this, and everyone else can leave. You have ten minutes."

Scott and Rayne exchange worried glances, Jennifer shakes her head, "He's not gonna hurt her."

"Shut up." Derek snaps, he can feel Rayne's fear for her mother radiating into him.

"He won't!" Jennifer's gaze moves to the Beta, "Scott, Rayne, you know why. Tell them it's true."

"What does she mean?" Derek's eyes move from his mate to the Beta.

Neither McCall answers so Jennifer sighs resigning herself to do it. "You're not the only one he wants in his pack. Deucalion doesn't just want an Alpha pack. He wants perfection. That means adding the rarest of Alphas to his ranks."

"A true Alpha." Peter speaks astonished he didn't get it earlier.

"What's that?" Stiles asks totally clueless in this aspect.

Peter answers him, "The kind that doesn't have to steal his power from another." He glances momentarily at Derek emphasizing his point. "One that can rise by the force of his own will. Our little Scott."

Scott shakes his head, "It doesn't matter. We still need to get her out of here."

"Scott, your mom—"

Rayne interrupts, "Our mom said there's one more ambulance coming in twenty minutes. Now, I don't think we've been here that long, so if we can get down to the garage, get to the last ambulance, we can get out of here."

"The twins aren't gonna let us just walk out."

Scott returns Peter's gaze, "I'll distract them."

"You mean fight 'em." Derek says.

"Whatever I have to do."

Derek sighs, "I'll help you."

"Um, sorry, but I'm not going anywhere without you, Derek."

"I'll do it." Peter says shocking everyone, he's usually the one to back out of any fight. "But I'd prefer to be out there with an advantage."

"An advantage like what? You mean like a weapon?"

"Something better than a baseball bat." Peter quips mocking the teen.

* * *

The five of them start rifling through drawers and cabinets looking for anything that could be an equalizer against the big guy. Stiles picks up the paddles used to start someone's heart, "Hey, wait. What about these?"

Derek looks up at him, "Do you know how to use those?"

"Well, no."

"Put 'em down," the Alpha orders.

Rayne looks up as her brother pulls out an extremely large syringe and uncaps the needle, he turns to his sister, "Epinephrine?"

Derek looks back over his shoulder, "That's only gonna make him stronger."

Rayne catches Peter's eyes, a smile grows on her face causing the former Alpha to ask, "How strong?" The she-wolf takes the syringe from her brother and crooks her finger beckoning Peter towards her. She stabs the needle into his chest in one swift plunge savoring the pain etched on his face.

Peter turns stepping out of the doors into the hallway, he jerks staring down at the syringe still embedded in his left pectoral. He pulls it out as Scott and Rayne come to stand behind him, they eye the twins standing at the end of the hall eyes flashing cobalt blue, red and yellow. "All right, boys. Let's rumble."

The five wolves growl as they rush towards one another, the twins forming into the giant as Peter jumps towards them and is swatted to the side. The three wolves take turns swinging at the giant, neither side making a difference. Scott grabs Rayne's hand as they take off running down the hall with Peter behind them and the giant giving chase.

* * *

Meanwhile the other three manage to make it to the garage, they open the door and Stiles points, "It's still here!" The group rushes over and Stiles opens the doors to the back of the ambulance and steps inside as Derek lays Cora on the gurney inside.

"Derek, over here."

The Alpha walks around to the left side of the vehicle where Jennifer is standing. On the ground by the drivers side door is a guard, a pool of blood spreading out from his dead body. The two of them approach the body slowly, cautiously. Then…

"Julia."

The two look up towards the front of the ambulance to find Kali stepping around the front towards them. She's twirling the keys for the vehicle on her finger as her bare feet leave bloody prints along the concrete floor. "It is you."

Stiles closes the doors as Derek moves Jennifer behind him, "You can't beat her on your own."

Derek nods as he backs up, "That's why we're gonna run." They take off running back inside the hallway, Derek starts going to the right but he's stopped by Jennifer's voice. "Wait, wait! The elevator!"

Derek shoves a gurney at Kali as she runs down the hall giving him time to slip inside the elevator, the doors shutting with a hiss just as Kali reaches them.

The two stand inside the elevator breathing a sigh of relief, until the lights begin flickering and the elevator jerks to a stop as the power completely goes out. Derek forces the doors open but finds they are blocked by a wall, as the elevator stopped between floors, only a small space not big enough for either of them remains open, so he steps back looking up at the ceiling.

"If you're thinking service hatch, they bolt from the outside, so you'd have to break it. All you'd end up doing is creating a lot of noise, telling them exactly where we are."

"Kali already knows."

"Not necessarily. She saw that we got in, but she might not know that we didn't get out."

"Yeah, well, if I get through, then we can go to another floor."

"Or you'd end up fighting them alone in an elevator shaft. They'll rip my head off before you even have a chance to land a punch."

Derek steps over staring at the small opening between the doors, thinking, he reaches back grabbing his phone. "Then someone needs to get the back up generator running again."

* * *

Peter stumbles down the hall slamming against the wall and dropping to the floor. "That shot didn't last very long."

"They're not supposed too, idiot." Rayne shakes her head at him as she and Scott hoist him up draping his arms over their shoulders. They hurry down the hall ducking into the room where soiled laundry is placed during rounds. Rayne continues to hold Peter up as he begins ranting, "Those twins are really starting to piss me off."

Scott is guarding the door watching for any sign of them. "How the hell are we supposed to get past them?"

"Personally, I think if we keep letting them beat the living crap out of us, they'll tire and give up."

Scott suddenly finds something in the corner of the room, Rayne and Peter turn to find him staring at a door marked Laundry shoot. The three wolves eye one another. Peter jumps in first luckily landing in a half full laundry cart at the bottom. Scott's next and lands on top of Peter earning a grunt from them both. Finally Rayne drops in and expecting both of the men to be out of the cart by now she doesn't prepare for the hard stop at the bottom as she lands roughly on top of the two Betas.

Peter shoves them both over and glares at Scott, "You couldn't have waited, like, ten seconds?" He sits up cracking his back as Scott is shoved from behind. "Get the hell off of me." Rayne grumbles as she sits up glad to get her brother's weight off of her. They all look as Scott's phone vibrates, he takes it from his pocket to answer it.

Peter notices the look on Scott's face and begins to climb out, "They didn't get out, did they?"

The siblings jump out following after Peter, Scott texts Derek back.

* * *

"Don't move. On our way." Derek reads the text out loud, both of them sighing at having to be stuck in the small steel box.

* * *

The trio makes their way down to the garage managing to scare the daylights out of Stiles as they pop up at the back of the ambulance. Scott motions to the handle, "Stiles! Open the door."

"Sorry," the teen says as he opens the door.

"Help me get him in." Scott and Stiles get Peter inside the ambulance while Rayne keeps watch for the Alphas.

"Where's Derek and Jennifer?"

"We have to go back for them and our mom."

"Okay, two problems. Kali's got the keys to this thing, and I just saw the twins like, 30 seconds ago."

They hear banging in the distance, Scott turns back to his friend, "Stay here." As they move back down the hallway the giant comes out from a door behind them knocking Rayne to the ground with a fist to her head, as she falls she manages to hit her head on the wall effectively rendering her useless at the moment. The giant grabs Scott by the throat and lifts him into the air pinning him against the wall. "Where is she? We're trying not to hurt you."

"Try harder," Scott grinds out around the hand gripping his throat.

"Hey! I'd like to try something." The giant drops Scott to the floor next to his sister, the siblings look up to find their mom standing in front of the giant with the defibrillator pads in her hands. She slams the pads against the giant's chest, the electric current is enough to split them apart back into their twin bodies. The siblings stare up at their mom, she is becoming more impressive as the days go on. "Sweetheart, honey, get up!" She holds out her hands to them and helps them up, the three them take off down the halls.

* * *

"Anything?" Jennifer asks as she leans against the back wall, Derek stands in front of her staring at his phone waiting for some signal from the others. If it wasn't for the reflective surface of the doors she wouldn't be able to see his face. "Derek, I know what you're thinking— that I'm using you. That everything that has happened between us is a lie, or that I'm evil. A bitch. I had no intension of breaking you and Rayne up, it just happened. But I hope you're not thinking the most superficial thought… "Is that her real face? The slashed, mutilated face revealed by the mistletoe… Is that what she really looks like?" Julia Baccari. That was my name."

"I don't care."

"I guess I should have changed it to something with different first letters. I think I read somewhere that people always pick aliases that are subconsciously derivative of their original name. It's a way of not completely letting go of your identity, since your name is so tied to your sense of self. Do you know what else is? Your face. The one that's supposed to be staring back at you in the mirror. Not some hacked up atrocity you can't even recognize."

"I still don't care."

"But I bet you're curious. I bet you wonder exactly what happened."

Derek looks at her for the first time. "You were an emissary. They tried killing you along with the rest of the pack. Mystery solved."

"I was Kali's emissary. And I was the one she couldn't kill."

As hard as Derek tried he couldn't help but be curious how she had ended up the way she was now, so he listened to her story.

"For years, the Nemeton's power was virtually gone, like the dying ember of a burned out fire. But a few months earlier, something happened, that caused that ember to glow a little brighter." Jennifer turned from the reflective wall smiling at Derek. "Something that gave it a spark of power again. The sacrifice of a virgin."

Derek's eyes drop to the floor, he had no idea when he took Paige's life, he would be providing Jennifer with power for now.

"You didn't know what you were doing back then, but killing Paige in the root cellar, sacrificing her there, gave power to the Nemeton." Her voice is coated with tears as she speaks, "You gave it power again. You gave me power. Just enough to hold on to life a little longer. Long enough to be found."

* * *

"He just let me go, said it was a gesture of goodwill. No other reason." Melissa explains to her kids as they walk through the hallways. Scott and Rayne try to figure out why Deucalion would let Melissa go, what kind of gesture is he expecting in return.

"He had to have a reason. I don't think he does anything without a reason."

Melissa wrings her hands together at Scott's words, "Well, if that means I should continue to be profoundly terrified, then don't worry about it. I got that covered."

Scott and Rayne stop quickly as they hear a gun click, Rayne moves their mother behind her as Scott steps slowly towards the end of the hallway looing around the corner. What they come to face is Chris Argent, flanked by Allison and Isaac. Chris lowers his gun as he sees them.

* * *

"You know Mistletoe is important to Druids, but do you know the myth of why people kiss under Mistletoe?"

"No." Derek replies glumly, he can't stop thinking about Rayne, the constant ache in his chest is a painful reminder of what the last two days has cost him and now's he stuck in an elevator with the person who caused it all.

"It's a Norse myth. Baldur, the Son of Odin, was the most beloved by the other Gods, so much that they wanted to protect him from all the dangers in the world. His mother, Frigga, took an oath from fire and water, metal, stone, and every living thing, that they would never hurt Baldur. At a gathering, they tested him. Stones, arrows, and flame were all hurled at him. Nothing worked. But there was one God who wasn't so enamored of Baldur. The God of Mischief, Loki. Loki discovered that Frigga had forgotten to ask Mistletoe, a tiny, seemingly harmless plant. And completely overlooked. Loki fashioned a dart out of Mistletoe, and it killed Baldur. Frigga was heartbroken. She decreed that Mistletoe would never again be used as a weapon and that she would place a kiss on anyone who passed under it. So now we hang Mistletoe underneath our door during the holidays… So that we will never overlook it again. We were the overlooked… The Emissary's. It was a mistake Deucalion and the Alphas should never have made, because I made an oath of my own. From Virgins and Warriors, from Healers, Philosophers, and Guardians, to loan me their power so that I could teach these monsters that their monstrous actions would never be overlooked."

"You killed innocent people."

"So have you. I know the real color of your eyes, Derek. And I know what it means. I'm not asking you to save just my life. I'm asking you to save everyone they'll ever hurt again."

"You can't beat 'em."

"Are you sure about that? Boyd asked you right before he died, what happens to a werewolf during a Lunar Eclipse? You didn't get the chance to tell him, but you know, don't you? What happens, Derek? During the total Lunar Eclipse?"

"We lose all our power."

* * *

"So then they're essentially trapped?" Chris asks as the group makes their way into an empty exam room.

Scott nods, "Yeah, right."

Isaac shakes his head, "There's no way of getting them out without turning the power back on."

"Wait, wait, wait, if the power's back on, they're gonna hear the elevator moving, right?" Melissa reminds them, earning a nod from Rayne, "And they'll be on Jennifer and Derek as soon as it stops."

"We can't get in a fight with them." Scott says firmly, both he and Rayne bleeding from head wounds from their last encounter with the Alphas.

"You've got us now." Chris looks to Allison standing beside him.

Scott shakes his head, "It's too much to risk. They want her dead, and if she dies, there's nothing that we can do for Stiles' dad or Cora."

"I don't even think I know which teacher this is." Chris tosses up his arms waiting for an explanation.

"She's— She's the one with the brown hair. She's kind of hot." Isaac shuts up instantly as every head turns towards him, not because of the looks he received but the growl emanating from his Alpha that made him instantly regret his words. "No, it's jus— Just an observation."

Allison eyes her reflection in a mirror across from her, "I've got an idea."

* * *

'We have a plan.' Derek looks at the two messages on his phone, before he moves to the doors sliding them open, the sound is heard by the twins.

* * *

Isaac sits in the Argent's car downstairs, he clips his phone to the dash and dials Allison, her face pops up on the screen. "You ready?"

"Yeah." His tone is less than convincing.

"You're not nervous, are you?"

"Do I look nervous?"

"No, not at all." Now she's the one with the unconvincing tone as she sets the phone down pointing towards the double doors.

"Did he look nervous?" Isaac hears Chris ask.

"Terrified." Is Allison's response.

"Yeah, I can still hear you, very, very clearly."

Allison's head pops back into the frame, "Just go as soon as you see them, okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I got it."

* * *

The twins and Kali focus on running footsteps, they know the shoes belong to Jennifer, they chase after the sound. The twins spot Jennifer running out the front of the hospital doors, from above them Kali jumps out of an upper window landing in front of them on the ground. The woman picks up a bow, turning to them bow drawn they realize it's not Jennifer, it's Allison. The huntress fires three flash bang arrows as her father comes up beside her guns drawn, together they drive the Alphas around the building.

* * *

Up on the roof Melissa turns the power back on, the humming of the generator is a welcome sound to her ears.

* * *

In the elevator Derek sees the lights flicker as they come to life, he immediately pushes the button for the ground floor.

"Derek, please look at me."

He doesn't turn around, something tells him not to, but instead he sees her reflection in the mirrored door, the hideous face of the Darach staring back at him as she screeches and suddenly everything goes black.

* * *

Isaac pulls the car into the garage stopping next to the ambulance, he gets out as Stiles and Peter open the doors. "All right, come on, come on, come on!"

Peter picks up Cora, "I got her. Okay, get the door." Isaac opens the back door of the car and the Beta loads his niece inside. Stiles starts to close the back doors but pauses as he notices a clipboard on the door, at the bottom it says Signature: Parent or Guardian.

"Stiles, let's go!" Isaac yells to his friend as he stands at the back of the ambulance, then without a backwards glance, Stiles takes off into the hospital. "Stiles!"

* * *

Scott and Rayne run back to the elevators to find Derek lying on the elevator floor unconscious and Jennifer nowhere in sight. "Derek!" Rayne kneels down next to her mate, she can't deny that the pain crushing her heart for the last two days suddenly dissipates just by being near him. They look up noticing the panel in the roof of the elevator open, they glance at one another before it dawns on Scott, "Mom."

The two siblings turn and run towards the stairs, they can hear Stiles yelling behind them but they don't stop. The two burst out of the door onto the roof to find…

* * *

"Come on, we gotta go. Drive you idiot." Peter urges Isaac from the back seat.

"I can't. Not without Scott."

They both hear gunshots coming from outside, Peter leans forward, "Come on, you want the Argents dead too? Make a choice!"

Peter looks at the back up camera screen in the car dash, he sees the twins coming up behind them. "Oh, for the love of God! Go, now!"

"All right!" Isaac shifts the car into reverse and slams the accelerator down backing up nearly missing the twins, then he peels out of the garage.

* * *

…"Mom!"

"Mom!"

"They're gone."

Deucalion steps out from behind one of the cages, "Guardians, Scott. If you two were with me, I could've told you what it meant. I could've warned you. Let me help you, Scott. Rayne. Let's help each other. You help me catch her, and I'll help you get your mother and Stiles' father back."

The two siblings realize they have no choice, whether they want to accept it or not, they need Deucalion. Rayne takes her brother's hand, reminding him that no matter what they will be together. With shaking hands and trembling lips the two make their to Deucalion's side.

Stiles runs out onto the roof behind them, he sees his two friends walking towards the Alpha and stops in his tracks. "Scott. Rayne."

The two stop as they hear his voice, "Scott, don't do this. Don't go with him."

"I don't know what else to do."

"Rayne, please."

The she-wolf turns back hearing the broken tone of her adopted brother's voice. "It's the only way Stiles."

"No, there's g— There's got to be something else, okay? We always— We always have a plan B."

The siblings turn back towards Stiles, the three holding back the tears clouding their eyes. "Not this time."

"Scott."

"I'm gonna find your dad. I promise."

Deucalion turns around walking away, the siblings following behind him. Stiles is at a lost, there's nothing he can do but call for them. "Scott! Rayne!"


	11. Alpha Pact

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Wolf or anything related to it. I only own my original character Rayne and anything else that seems out of place.**

I want to say a big thank you to those that have reviewed this story so far. It means so much to me.

xoxo Tiearney

* * *

Stiles runs back down to the elevator, he kneels down smacking Derek across the face. "Derek?" SMACK! "Derek?" SMACK! "Derek, come on!" SMACK!

He's not getting any reaction from the Alpha, so he resorts to what he knows has worked before. He balls up his fist and rears back swinging his hand down only for Derek's hand to snap up and grab it. Stiles looks down in shock as the Alpha opens his eyes, his breathing heavy as he looks around. "Where is she?"

"Jennifer? Gone with Scott and Rayne's mom."

"She took her?"

"Yeah, and if that's not enough of a kick to the balls, Scott and Rayne left with Deucalion, okay? So we gotta get you out of here. The police are coming right now, and we got to get you the hell out of here."

"Whoa." Derek says as he sits up. "What about Cora?"

* * *

Derek pulls his FJ up next to the Argent's car, he gets out walking over to the back door.

"Where's Scott, Stiles and Rayne?" Allison asks as he walks straight past them.

"Stiles is still at the hospital. He's gonna hold off the cops for us. We have to go right now." Derek tells Isaac as picks his sister up and carries her to his car.

"What about Scott, Melissa and Rayne?" Chris questions as the Alpha walks past him and puts Cora into the back of his SUV.

"Jennifer took Melissa." He shuts the door walking back to the drivers side as the news settles into them all.

"What about Scott and Rayne?" Derek continues around the car ignoring Allison's question as he opens his door. "Derek, where are they?"

He stops turning back towards the Argents…

* * *

Back at the loft Derek lays Cora down in his bed, he sets at her bedside not wanting to leave her side. She starts coughing, her lips tinted black with dried blood. Isaac steps up on the Alpha's left eyeing the young girl. "She's dying, isn't she?"

"I don't know."

"So what are you gonna do?"

Derek just shakes his head rubbing his hand over his bottom lip, "I don't know."

Peter is sitting on the staircase where the two can't see him, he watches as Isaac turns away rubbing his hand over his head, "Want to figure something out? Because while Scott and Stiles were out there trying to help people from being killed, you were in here, rolling around the sheets, in yours and Rayne's bed might I add, with the actual killer. Do you get how many people she's killed? Erica and Boyd are dead, Cora is dying, and you are doing nothing!"

The Alpha doesn't look up, simply keeps staring at his sister. He doesn't know what to say, he knows Isaac is right.

"Why'd you do this to us, Derek? Was it all about the power? We're you bored?" He moves forward leaning down to his Alpha, "We're you lonely?"

Derek grits his teeth, pursing his lips he turns to the Beta, "Maybe."

Isaac stands up and walks around behind the Alpha with his hands in his hair.

"I told Cora I wouldn't leave. I'll help the others when I figure out how to help her."

Isaac is just about to the door when he spins around, his voice booming off the walls. "There's no time!" He steps up to the door, "The full moon's coming. The Sheriff and Melissa are gonna be dead, so I'm gonna try and help them." He pulls open the steel door stepping outside, "You can sit here and perfect the art of doing nothing." The door slams shut behind him.

"I wouldn't take it personally." Peter comments from his place of the stairwell, he stands up descending the stairs as he speaks. "Anger is just a tool. He's using it to excuse shifting allegiance from one Alpha to another. From you to Scott."

"Scott's not an Alpha yet."

"But he's on his way, isn't he?"

* * *

By the morning light Cora's condition has worsened, she's extremely pale and in more pain than before. Derek takes her hand absorbing her pain into himself, grimacing and both breathing heavily as the pain enters one and leaves the other. Peter moves up behind his Nephew, "Careful."

Derek jerks his hand away from Cora's grasp, panting he watches as the black veins in his arms disappear. "Don't worry. I know going too far could kill me."

"That's not exactly what I meant." Peter continues as Derek stands up, "I've heard it's something only an Alpha can do, and with good reason."

"Which is?"

"You know normal wolves never abandon an injured member of the pack. They care for it. They bring it food from a kill and then regurgitate it into the mouth of the injured wolf. They even give it physical and emotional comfort by intensely grooming it. In a way, they can do more than just ease pain. They can be instrumental in healing their own."

Derek leans on the opposite side of the desk, "If you're trying to tell me I can save her, just tell me."

"I'm telling you… I've heard it's possible."

"How?"

"It's that spark of power that makes you an Alpha. When you take her pain, she draws on the power that provides you with those special gifts. The power that heightens your senses, your strength. The power that transforms your body. As an Alpha, you have that bit of extra, that spark intensifies the color of your eyes from a bright yellow to a searing red."

"If I can save her—"

"If. If. I didn't say it works every time. It could just as easily kill you."

Derek turns his gaze to Cora, his mind then flashes Rayne's face into his head. He knows he has lost her, nothing will bring her back to him. He has lost his mate and his pack. He realizes he has nothing left to live for. "How do I do it? By taking her pain?"

The smirk that crosses Peter's face at his Nephew's words fades just as quickly, "And then some. Because there's a cost."

Derek crosses to the other side of the bed by the window, he passes Peter who lays a finger on his chest. "I can understand not seeing a downside to this, as you haven't exactly been Alpha of the year, but think about what else you'd be losing."

"I don't care about power. Not anymore. Rayne showed me there was more to life, I want to prove her right. I owe it to her."

"What about the power to fight back? Correct me if I'm wrong, but Kali's ultimatum still stands. The full moon is tomorrow night, and if you couldn't beat her as an Alpha, how do you think you're gonna fare as a Beta?"

Derek looks up locking stares with his Uncle he stresses each word, "I don't care."

"What if this was exactly what Jennifer was hoping for? She would know the only way for you to save Cora would be giving up your power. Maybe that's what she was gonna have you do at the hospital."

"Why?"

"So that you wouldn't be able to face the Alphas without her. She wants you to come to her. It's all part of her little seduction, and she is till seducing you. Why do you think she came between you and Rayne? She knew without your mate you would be alone, and she could move her way into your heart. She needs you on her side."

There's a knock on the door, Peter moves to answer it and is surprised to find Lydia standing on the other side.

Lydia is shocked to see Peter staring her in the face. "You."

"Me."

"You."

Peter sighs, "Me." A beat passes. "Derek, we have a visitor."

* * *

Rayne and Scott meanwhile are following Deucalion through the woods. The Alpha stops observing a flickering light ahead of them.

Scott sees where he's looking, "It's a firefly."

"Unusual for this region."

"It's because of Jennifer, isn't it?" Rayne questions eyeing the other Alpha.

Scott takes over as she begins thinking about other things. "Just before all this started, a deer crashed into Lydia's car. The cats went crazy at the animal clinic. Birds flew into the high school, that was all her."

"They say animals can sense natural disasters when they're about to happen. Maybe they can sense supernatural ones as well."

"Does she scare you?"

"She concerns me if she's willing to kill that many innocent people for her cause, people like your mother and Stiles' father."

"Are you willing to kill innocent people?"

"I'll kill any living thing that gets in my way."

* * *

"You don't know where it is, but Stiles says you've been there." Lydia says.

"We have." Peter drawls out, his chin resting on his hands. "But after a few memorable experiences there, Talia—Derek's mother and my older sister—decided that she didn't ever want us going back. She knew how dangerous it was and took the memory of its location from us."

"But then how are we supposed to find it?"

* * *

Scott and Rayne follow Deucalion into a clearing, inside a circle of mountain ash stands Ms. Morrell, surrounding her on either side are Kali and the twins.

"How did you know, Marin, that we'd come for you?"

"Because Jennifer and I are the same. And I know you've always been suspicious of us, of what we can do."

"With good reason." Kali steps around in front of Marin. "We know you sent that girl— The one who helped Isaac."

"What was her name?" Deucalion asks recalling the memory of slashing her throat with his claws.

"Braeden. And I sent her to do what I've always done— Maintain balance." She cautiously watches as Kali circles her.

"What do you know about Jennifer?"

"Nothing more than you know." She turns her gaze to the McCall siblings, "This isn't you, Scott. Nor is it you, Raynelle."

Rayne flinches at the sound of her full name, no one besides her family knows her full name, the only one who did and used it was Talia.

"Go back to your friends. To your mate."

Deucalion points to the two with his cane, "They can decide what's right for themselves."

"Not without all the information. Have you told them everything you've done? How you've piled up bodies in a narcissistically psychotic effort to form your perfect pack." She turns to Kali giving her a pointed look. "Bodies that include Ennis, by the way." The pack looks to Deucalion as Marin continues. "My brother saved him. He was alive when Deucalion went in to see him. He wants you to go after Derek, Kali, to force his decision. If Derek joins the pack, it paves the way for Scott and Rayne."

"The lies people will tell when they're begging for their life."

Marin smirks at Kali, determined to create an uprising, "Ask him."

In one swift movement Deucalion's cane is embedded in Marin's chest. Scott and Rayne rush over to her, the Alpha standing in the way of the twins and Kali as they move towards them. "Hey, back off."

Scott grabs the cane pulling it out of Marin's chest, he tosses it away and turns to her. "I'm not going to let them kill you. But if you know something, if you know where they are—"

"The Nemeton— You find that, you'll find Jennifer. Find the Nemeton."

* * *

Scott receives a call from Stiles, he and Rayne go to meet up with him and Deaton in the woods. "How did you guys find out?"

"Lydia," Stiles tells him. "You?"

"Morell. None of the other Alphas know where it is either."

"So if this works, are you gonna tell them?"

"We can't stop Jennifer without them."

Deaton breaks the tension, "How about we concentrate on finding your parents first?"

"What's the plan?"

"Essentially, you, Allison, and Stiles need to be surrogate sacrifices for your parents."

"We die for them?" Scott asks the disbelief written on his face.

"But he can bring us back," Stiles nods his head towards Deaton. "You can— You can bring us back, right?"

"You remember the part where I said it was dangerous? The three of you will be dead for a few seconds, but there's something else you need to think about. This is a dangerous thing for more reasons than one. You'll be giving power back to the Nemeton, a place that hasn't had power for a long time. This kind of power is like a magnet. It attracts the supernatural, the kind of things that a family like the Argents can fill the pages of a Beastiary with. It will draw them here, like a beacon."

"That doesn't sound any worse than anything we've already seen."

Deaton turns his head towards Stiles, "You'd be surprised at what you have yet to see."

"Is that it?" Even as he asks, Scott knows there is something Deaton is hesitant in telling them.

"No. It will also have an effect on the three of you. You won't be able to see it, but you'll feel it every day for the rest of your lives. It'll be a kind of a darkness around your heart, and permanent, like a scar."

"Like a tattoo." The siblings reply in tandem glancing at one another.

* * *

Back in the loft Derek is sitting by Cora's bedside, she's thrashing around in bed, unable to breath as the pain wracks her body. Derek purses his lips, "It's gotta be now. I don't have a choice."

"You always have a choice. It's whether or not you can live with the consequences— Facing Kali as a Beta."

"Ya but it's not just the full moon coming. It's a lunar eclipse. We'll all be powerless."

* * *

The four of them head back to the vet's office, the entire way Rayne and Scott argued about which of them should be the one sacrificed. In the end Scott won, though Rayne was less than pleased about it.

Rayne helps Isaac and Lydia empty bags of ice into three water troughs. Deaton looks up to the three teenagers, "All right. What did you bring?"

All eyes turn to Stiles, "Um, I got my dad's badge. Jennifer kind of crushed it in her hand, so I tried hammering it out a bit. Still doesn't look great."

"It doesn't need to look good if it has meaning."

Isaac looks down at the object in Allison's hand, "Is that an actual silver bullet?"

"My dad made it. As kind of a ceremonial thing. When one of us finishes learning all the skills to be a hunter, we forge a silver bullet as a testament to the code."

"Scott?"

The Beta's head whips up to look at his mentor. "Our dad got our mom this watch when she first got hired at the hospital. She used to say it was the only thing in her marriage that ever worked." Rayne wraps her arms around her brother's waist holding him close, while Deaton talks them through what will happen.

"Okay, the three of you will get in. Each of us will hold you down until you're essentially… Well, dead. But it's not just someone to hold you under. It needs to be someone who can pull you back, someone that has a strong connection to you, a kind of emotional tether."

Lydia moves towards Allison but Deaton stops her, "Lydia… You go with Stiles."

"Are you sure? I mean, Scott and I both have to go under." Allison sees the look on Deaton's face, she realizes that Rayne is Scott's tether so that means Isaac is hers, the two of them look to Scott for his reaction.

"It's okay." He steps around Allison, the hurt showing through on his face.

The three teens strip down to minimal clothing and approach the troughs, each holding the object from their parent. The three step in exhaling from the sudden freezing water as they sit down. Stiles is shivering and stuttering as he turns to the McCall siblings. "By the way, if I don't make it back and you do, you two should probably know something. Your dad's in town."

Both Rayne and Scott's breaths become shallow at this revelation. And at that moment their father is sitting on Scott's bed holding a picture of his kids, his eyes are rimmed red as he worries what has become of his children.

* * *

Derek is stroking Cora's hair from her forehead, steeling himself for what he is about to do. He takes Cora's hand in his and holds her arm with his other. He breaths deeply as the black veins travel from his hands and up his arms. Cora's eyes jolt open staring at Derek before she throws her head back onto the pillows. Derek roars his head thrown back as his eyes suddenly go from a burning Alpha red, back to steel Beta blue.

* * *

Inside the vet's office Rayne suddenly clutches her chest, her body wracked with pain. Her breathing short and heavy. She collapses to the floor, and then just as suddenly as it started, it leaves. She stays kneeling on the floor, panting rapidly, her eyes darting around the floor. She places her hand over her heart, whispering, "Derek."

After a moment she stands back up, ignoring the questioning glances from the others she shrugs them off focusing on the task at hand. Deaton stands at the front of the room watching as Isaac, Lydia and Rayne place their hands on the teens shoulders. The three each take a big breath as they are pushed down into the water. Rayne watches her brother and just as she expected his eyes dart open, his beautiful Beta yellow staring up at her.


	12. Lunar Eclipse

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Wolf or anything related to it. I only own my original character Tahlia and her family, and anything else that seems out of place.**

* * *

Rayne is pacing the floor of the vet's office, it's already been several hours and the kids are still out of it. She knows they have been in there way too long, they have only a few hours until the Lunar Eclipse. Her mind has been racing with the pain she felt earlier, she can still feel her connection to Derek, so she knows he's alive, but that doesn't ease her worry about what is going on with him. No matter what has transpired between the mates, they are just that, mates. And wolves mate for life.

Suddenly the three teens shoot up out of the water garnering everyone's attention. Rayne catches her brother's eyes, "I saw it. I know where it is."

Stiles climbs out of the tub, "We passed it. There's a stump, this huge tree. Well, it's not huge anymore. It was cut down. But it's still very big, though, very big."

"It was the night we were looking for the body."

"Yeah, the same night you were bit by Peter."

Allison steps out too, "I was there too. In the car with my mother. We almost hit someone."

"It was me. You almost hit me." Scott turns to Deaton, "We can find it."

The three notice the looks on the other four's faces, Allison gives them a look, "What?"

"You guys were out a long time." Isaac admits.

"How long is a long time?" Stiles asks concerned.

"16 hours." Deaton confesses earning sighs from them all.

"We've been in the water for 16 hours?" Rayne answers her brother's unspoken question. "And the full moon rises in less than four."

* * *

Rayne knows she has to go to Derek, so after making a plan of what they all will do she takes her leave driving to his loft. As she opens the door she is struck by the sight of Cora sitting up in bed, like nothing had ever been wrong with her. Her eyes move from the Beta to Derek's body lying by the window and she knows what has happened. She rushes to his side sitting him up as Cora grabs a water bottle holding it to his lips.

Rayne can hear him gasp softly as the cool liquid runs down his throat. His eyes slide open as he first looks from Rayne then to Cora. "You're okay."

Cora smiles, "I'm doing much better than you are right now, and all because of you."

"Hopefully not all for nothing." Rayne growls at the man standing behind her, he just couldn't shut up. "The moon is rising, Derek. You drained your battery all the way to the red, and there is a fully charged Alpha on her way to rip you limb from limb."

Derek grips Rayne's hand, which to her feels like nothing more than a light breeze because of his weakness. "I'll be fine in a few hours."

"I sincerely hope so, because a few hours is all that you have."

* * *

An hour later after Rayne had talked to her brother she convinced Derek to hear Ethan out, it was their last option. So now here they stood in the center of the loft, Ethan pleading his case to Derek while Rayne, Peter and Cora stood by.

"We know about the Lunar Eclipse, so don't think Kali's gonna sit around and wait for it to level the playing field. She's coming, and my brother's coming with her."

Peter nods his head, "Good enough for me. Derek?"

"You want me to run?"

Peter scoffs the sarcasm flowing through his words as he approaches his Nephew. "No. I want you to stay and get slaughtered by an Alpha with a psychotic foot fetish. Of course I want you to run. Sprint, gallop, leap your way the hell out of this town."

Cora's voice reaches them, "If you want to fight and die for something, that's fine with me, but do it for something meaningful."

"How do you know I'm gonna lose?"

"We don't, but I'll bet she has an idea." Peter's head swivels to the side. "Don't you, Lydia?"

"I don't know anything."

"But you feel something, don't you?"

"What do you feel?" Derek wants to know.

"I feel like… I'm standing in a graveyard."

* * *

They managed to settle things and get Derek and Cora out of the loft in the nick of time, as the alarm starts blaring and Kali rips it from the wall. Downstairs in the parking lot Derek stands at the drivers side of his car, Rayne shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other in front of him.

"Rayne, I—"

"Shh." She places her finger on his lips. "It's okay. I love you Derek." He is surprised to be forgiven so easily, but realizes that is the power of their bond. He leans down catching her lips with his, the force of the kiss is enough to bruise but in this moment it simply feels right. He pulls back leaning his forehead against hers, "I love you Rayne." He hugs her tight to him letting her know what he wants to say, she nods understanding, "I'll find you. Now go." She shoves him into the car, giving him one last kiss through the open window. Peter leans in the open passenger window. "Don't call until you're at least 100 miles away. Go!" The two wolves stand back watching as the glow of taillights fade into the darkness.

* * *

"Where is he?" Kali asks Ethan and Lydia who stand in front of the desk.

Lydia snaps her fingers turning to Ethan. "I think he said he was heading out to do some shopping, run a few errands. The usual werewolf afternoon."

"Who do you think you're talking to?"

"Someone in desperate need of a pedicure. I'd be happy to give you a referral."

Kali growls at Lydia advancing on her, but pauses as a louder growl comes from behind. The she-wolf turns towards Aiden. "Oh, really?"

"Did someone take their little assignment too seriously?" Kali asks as she circles around Aiden who sighs. "She's not the problem."

"Maybe the problem is where your loyalties lie."

"Oh, God!" Lydia's face pales. "Is this about to get really violent?"

"Probably." Ethan says.

Suddenly a figure crashes through the glass ceiling above, landing in a crouch on the floor below. It's Jennifer. She stands up staring at Kali and Aiden. "So, who wants to go first?"

Kali bares her fangs, she swipes at Jennifer but misses as the woman ducks. She then kicks out at Jennifer, missing twice until the woman hits the she-wolf with a powerful push of magic sending her across the floor.

Aiden growls approaching Jennifer from behind, she whips around dodging his swipe. She hits him in the chest sending him backwards across the floor.

Ethan stands up unzipping his shirt and taking it off, while Aiden rips his off. The two roar standing side by side, they grasp arms preparing to form the giant when Jennifer walks across the floor towards them. She grasps both wolves by the neck, tearing them back apart and tossing them to opposite side of the room.

Kali stands up, flipping past Jennifer, they both stand facing one another. "That's right, Kali. Look at me. Look at my face. Do you know what it takes to be able to look like this? To be able to look normal?"

"I don't care."

"It takes power. Power like this." Jennifer raises her arms out to her sides drawing a flurry of air that swirls around her. The glass shards from the floor rise circling around Jennifer, as a massive storm flurries overhead.

Kali watches in horror, stuttering through her words. "I… I should've…" The shards turn, every one pointing at Kali. "I should've ripped your head off!"

Jennifer screams, the shards race forwards impaling the she-wolf, killing her instantly. Kali's limp body falls to the floor, her blood pooling around her. Jennifer turns to Lydia who stands stricken by the desk, but something catches the red-head's attention.

Jennifer turns around to find the twins combined into the giant standing behind her growling. The wolf approaches her slashing out with it's right hand. But Jennifer ducks coming up behind the giant and easily snapping its neck. The wolf falls to the floor, blood seeping from its mouth as Lydia looks on in horror, breathing heavily.

"What's the line Coach likes to say? The bigger they are…" Jennifer smirks as she approaches Lydia backing her up into a beam. "What do you want from me?"

"I want you to do what you do best, Lydia. I want you to scream." Jennifer then transforms into the Darach, drawing a massive scream from Lydia.

* * *

Inside the FJ several miles away Derek pulls the car over as he hears a distant scream. Cora looks at him, "What the hell was that?"

"Lydia. We have to go back."

* * *

Rayne meets up with her brother, Allison and Isaac at the top of Beacon Hills Preserve. Just as they arrive they are greeted by Deucalion. "Cutting it a little close, aren't we, Scott?"

"We got a little delayed. Where are the others?"

"Occupying themselves with other pursuits."

"So it's just you, me and Rayne against her?"

"I think you'll be surprised what a good team we make."

Scott turns to Isaac, "Okay, get Stiles, and then get to the root cellar, okay. We'll keep Jennifer away long enough for you to get them out of there."

"How are you gonna do that?"

Rayne shares a small smile with her brother, "We have a plan."

* * *

Derek shows back up at the loft to find Kali dead, her body embedded with shards of glass. The twins on the floor by the desk, dead as well. As Cora comforts Lydia, Derek turns to Jennifer. "You did this for me?"

"For us. For anyone who's ever been their victim."

"Stop talking to me like a politician. Stop trying to convince me of your cause!"

"Fine, I'll convince you of someone else's. Rayne. You can save her mother, Stiles' father."

"How?"

"I need a guardian, and that's a role that can either be filled by the three parents I was forced to take or by you."

"I can't help you. I'm not even an Alpha anymore."

"All I need is for you to help me get Deucalion in the right place at the right time."

"You just killed three of them on your own. What do you need me for?"

"You haven't seen him at his strongest. I have. If he's got Scott and Rayne with him, I don't stand a chance unless I have you."

"Derek, don't trust her." Cora warns.

"I have the Eclipse in my favor, but the moon's only gonna be in the Earth's umbral shadow for 15 minutes. That's the extent of my window. There's no decision to struggle with. Help me kill him, and the others live. Just help me."

* * *

Back in the forest Scott, Rayne and Deucalion come back to the place where this all started years ago, the abandoned distillery. As they stand in the doorway the storm raging behind them, Deucalion turns to Scott. "You said you had a plan."

"On the first day of class, Jennifer sent all of us a message. It was the last line from Joseph Conrad's _Heart of Darkness_. I got a message of my own to send to her." Rayne holds Scott's phone, the camera facing him as they record a message for Jennifer.

"You see this symbol?" They show the spiral on the wall of the distillery. "It's a symbol for revenge." The camera moves in on Scott, "You talk about balance, about saving people. We know what you really want, and now you know where to find us."

* * *

The three of them stand inside the warehouse, they see Jennifer's silhouette walking through the dust, but it breaks into two people as they step through the doors. Rayne's heart drops as Scott looks unsettling between Deucalion and the man next to Jennifer… Derek.

Scott shakes his head at Derek, "What are you doing?"

"This might be hard to believe, but I'm actually trying to help you."

"Ooh, like brother against brother. How very American this is." Deucalion quips before folding up his cane and taking off his jacket. "Are you ready Jennifer? Hmm? Did you gather your herbs, pray to your ancient Gods and your oak trees, slit a baby's throat, perhaps? Should we show them why you needed to sacrifice nine innocent people just to face me?" His face starts shifting slowly no bones breaking, just transforming. "Or is it 12 now?" As his eyes glow an intense red like that of a robot, even Jennifer looks scared.

Derek shifts charging towards Deucalion, he swipes with his right hand, the Alpha grabs it, then grabs the left as the Beta swipes again. He bends Derek's arms down, Jennifer takes this as her opportunity and walks up shoving her hand at Deucalion's chest. Jennifer is puzzled when nothing happens. Deucalion grabs both of them by their throats lifting them into the air.

He drops Jennifer to the floor on her back, when he drops Derek the Beta stands, swiping his right arm towards the Alpha, Deucalion blocks it and knocks Derek across the room. He lands hard on a pile of tires and falls to the floor. Jennifer stands up rushing the Alpha but he punches her in the face and drops her to her back.

Scott and Rayne look over at Derek as he pushes himself up onto his elbows. Their eyes move to Deucalion as he picks up Jennifer by the back of her neck and shoves her to her knees in front of Scott. "Kill her. Do it." Scott refuses to move so Deucalion roars loudly dropping both Scott and Rayne to their hands and knees, when they look up they find he had made them both shift.

"Now kill her. Your parents are dying. That storm you hear, she's burying them alive. It's her connection to the telluric currents. Kill her and it ends."

"It won't end. Not with me. He'll have you kill everyone you love. It's what he does."

"They're dying, Scott. Your mother and the parents of your best friends. Kill her now and it's over. Become the Alpha you're meant to be. Become a killer."

"They're not dead yet."

"And whose going to save them, your friends?"

Scott and Rayne stand up yellow and red eyes glowing, "My pack."

Deucalion reacts quickly flashing over and sending Rayne flying through the air, she lands hard on the ground next to Derek who doesn't hesitate to pick her up and cradle her in his arms. Deucalion grabs Scott by the back of his neck and his other hand takes Scott's wrist, holding his claws out in front of them as he moves him over to Jennifer. "Maybe you just need a little guidance."

Scott is straining against Deucalion's strength, he turns towards the Alpha, "I forgot to tell you something. Something that Gerard told me. "Deucalion… Isn't always blind." Scott takes the two flash bangs from his pocket and smashes them on the ground at their feet. All four werewolves cover their eyes, hissing as the flashes disorient them. Deucalion backs up swinging wildly into the air.

When the four of them are able to see again, they find themselves back to normal. Deucalion looks up at the sky, "The Eclipse. It's started."

* * *

Scott stands up looking to the empty spot where Jennifer was, "Oh, no." Through the dust the four wolves watch as Jennifer walks back in, only this time it's the face of the Darach that stares back at them. She sends Scott flying back into the silos behind him, Rayne runs out from behind the crates where she was crouching with Derek to kneel at her brother's side.

The Darach grabs Deucalion throwing him down onto the floor where she proceeds to slam his head down onto the concrete until the back of his head lays in a pool of blood. Derek jumps out from behind the crates, "Jennifer! He doesn't know."

Jennifer stands up, "Know what?"

"What you really look like. He knows the cost of bringing Kali into his pack, but he's never seen the price you paid."

"No. No, he hasn't." Jennifer leans down placing her hand over Deucalion's eyes and the Alpha screams in pain as his eyesight is restored. He looks around for a moment, the fact that he can see again slowly registering in his mind.

"Turn to me. Turn to me!"

Deucalion turns his head to the left, he's hyperventilating as his eyes fall on the hideous face Jennifer has been left with. She reaches her arm back but before she can strike, she stumbles, Derek runs forward catching her in his arms.

"What is this?"

"Healing him made you weak, just like healing Cora did to me. You won't have your strength for at least a few minutes."

"Then you do it. Kill him."

Derek smiles, "No."

"What?"

"Like my mother used to say, I'm a predator. I don't have to be a killer." Derek grabs Jennifer's throat in his hand and squeezes, "Let them go."

Jennifer breaks his hold and shoves him back into a wooden pallet, she hits him in the face three times before she stops and looks at him, her face softening. "Derek."

She stands up turning back to Deucalion, but she spins around as she hears Derek stand. He grabs Jennifer by the throat as she takes him by the front of his shirt slamming his back against the metal silo behind him. As she does this Derek flashes back to Boyd and Cora ripping into his flesh inside the boiler room, the intense pain wracking his body.

Then suddenly there is a change in the atmosphere, Jennifer looks up as Derek's eyes take on the steel blue, "Your 15 minutes are up." He throws Jennifer across the floor, Scott and Rayne stand up rushing towards her, but before any of the three wolves can get to her she tosses up a circle of mountain ash letting it fall around her feet blocking her from them.

"Like I told you, Derek, either you or the parents. Well, I guess I'll just have to take them now. In a few minutes, they'll be dead, and I won't need a Lunar Eclipse, even to kill a demon wolf."

Scott looks at his sister, she nods, telling him she believes in him, giving him the strength he needs. Scott places his hands on the invisible barrier separating Jennifer from him and pushes. Jennifer shakes her head, "You've tried this before Scott. I don't remember you having much success."

Scott pushes at the boundaries the glowing blue light shining from his hands as he pushes against the wall. His eyes glow their bright Beta yellow as he pushes himself harder against the barrier, and just as they did before, they change to the fire red of an Alpha. Rayne smiles, pride swelling inside of her as she watches her brother defy every rule that had ever been set for werewolves. Scott pushes both of his feet inside the circle and suddenly a bright light engulfs them all and the seal is broken.

Jennifer looks up from her position on the ground, "How did you do that?"

Scott even seems unsure as he speaks, "I'm an Alpha now. Whatever you're doing to cause the storm, make it stop, or I'll kill you myself. I don't care what it does to the color of my eyes."

Deucalion steps up behind them, "It won't change the color of mine. So allow me." He steps up before any of them can move and slashes Jennifer's throat. She gasps, choking on her blood she falls to the ground.

* * *

Scott calls Stiles and after confirming that everyone is all right, he ends the call and turns to Deucalion where he is being addressed by Derek. "My mother told me you were a man of vision once. We're letting you go, because we hope you can be that man again."

"But if you're not, then having your eyesight back won't matter, because you'll never see us coming." The three of them turn and walk away, leaving Deucalion to his thoughts.

* * *

The next day everyone sets out on their new paths. Allison approaches her father in his office where he's putting his guns away. "Back to storage?"

"That's the plan."

"What if I've got a different plan? Deaton said that what we did in order to find you— He said it might draw things here, make Beacon Hills kind of a beacon again."

"I hope not."

"I was thinking that maybe I should be prepared. Learn to be a better fighter, learn all the things that you can still teach me."

"And maybe a few things more."

"But we're going to have a new code. Nous devons protéger ceux qui ne peuvent se protéger eux-mêmes."

Chris smiles, "We protect those who cannot protect themselves."

* * *

Back in the loft there is a tearful goodbye taking place that none of them ever thought would happen. Derek and Rayne stand toe-to-toe, one of his hands clasped around the back of her neck and the other holding her hand. The emotions are almost overwhelming to the both of them, the pain of leaving almost more than they each can bare. But as they stand there they both know, this is the way things have to be.

"Good—"

Rayne kisses him stopping his sentence, "No. This isn't goodbye. There will never be a goodbye between us."

Derek nods closing his eyes, the tears dripping unashamedly from his lashes as he gazes at the love of his life, his mate, his best friend. "I'll be back."

"I know you will. And I'll be right here waiting for you."

"I love you Raynelle."

"I love you Derek."

* * *

"I honestly don't know if he's ever coming back. Part of me hopes so, but another part hopes that maybe he'll be okay somewhere else. So long as my sister is here though, I know that one day I will see him again."

_Derek and Cora pack up their things and after one last look at the loft, Derek shuts the door._

* * *

"Our dad doesn't look like he's gonna be leaving for awhile. But just because he's staying…"

_Scott opens his bedroom door, Rayne stands next to him. Their father stands in the hallway. They look at one another before Scott slams the door shut in his face._

"Doesn't mean he's welcome."

_Down at the end of the hall Melissa ducks back behind the wall smirking._

* * *

_Scott opens the doors to the school, walking inside._

"Stiles and I both feel it every day, just like you said we would, and it makes me think about that quote Jennifer used to start our first class, because when I feel it, yeah… It's like… I'm looking "Into the heart of an immense darkness."

"So what do you do instead?"

"I look for my friends."

_Lydia stands against the lockers to his left, Aiden in front of her leaning in close as they smile at one another. Ethan and Danny walk out of a classroom on his right, holding hands and laughing as they pass him. Isaac and Allison come down the stairwell together talking and laughing. Stiles comes up behind Scott, clapping his hand over Scott's shoulder._

"But what about Ms. Blake?"

"I don't know. When we went back inside the distillery, her body was gone."

_J_

* * *

_ennifer manages to crawl her way back to the Nemeton tree, clawing her way up to the flat surface. "Oh, please. Please. You saved me once before." But before she can touch the rings, her hand is grabbed by another, one with claws. They flip her over, her back resting against the side of the tree. She laughs as she sees who stands behind her. "Of course it's you." Peter stands before her. "Everyone else suffers, but somehow, you come out on top, and now that Scott's an Alpha, you'll be able to steal it from him. You'll be an Alpha again."_

"_Again? Again?" Peter raises his hand slashing Jennifer's throat open, killing her. "I…Am…The…Alpha! I've always been the Alpha!"_

_A condescending chuckle is heard from behind Peter, he whips around not expecting anyone to be out there. "Oh, do I hate being right." There leaning against a tree is Rayne, her black attire and hair blending in with the darkness. The only thing Peter can see is her piercing red eyes glowing like embers as she pushes off the tree and circles him like prey. "I was right about you, all along. Everything you do, everything you have done and everything you will ever do, always has a motive behind it. You never do anything unless it benefits you. I knew there was an ulterior motive for you letting Derek heal Cora and giving up his Alpha status. Just remember a few things, Scott is smarter than you, stronger than you and a better Alpha than you ever were. And I may be hurting, but I am not weak. Do not underestimate me Peter. If you threaten my family, my friends or this town... I will kill you."_

_Peter smirks as Rayne turns her back to him, he swipes at her back only for her to somersault out of his way. The she-wolf stands to face him, her arms hanging at her sides. Peter swipes at her once, twice, three times, over and over, but Rayne dodges them easily never moving from her place. Finally as Peter is frustrated beyond belief she snatches one of his arms and pinning it behind his back, forces him to his knees. Her hand raises, claws glinting in the moonlight, Peter closes his eyes as she brings her hand down. A stinging pain later and Peter opens his eyes, his hand raising to his throat touching the skin. His fingers come away bloody, but not enough to kill him, it was only a shallow cut. A warning._

_Rayne leans down to him, her red eyes glistening with fury. "I want you to remember this moment, how it could have went. This is your first & last warning. Next time, you will die."_

THE END

* * *

**Please stay tuned for the next installment of the Fire & Ice series: Living Nightmares**


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